I was asked to participate in a blog book tour, of sorts, by Ed Cyzewski, the author of Coffeehouse Theology: Reflecting on God in Everyday Life. I’ll be receiving my review copy of the book soon, so look for a full review soon! I’m looking forward to this examination of the intersection of culture and theology.

Coffeehouse Theology was released today, September 15th on Amazon and all the other online booksellers, so go take a look at it!

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David and I are back in Boston tonight wandering through bits of our nation’s history once more with good friends. Everytime we head downtown for a history tour, I learn something new. So much to learn, so little time!

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On a sad note, one of my favorite bloggers has chosen to shut his blog down today. I feel as if I’ve faced a personal loss! Do they make Hallmark cards for “I’m sorry you lost a blog today!”? Duncan MacFadzean, who attended Q with me in New York City, ended his six year run with  his blog, “What’s Your Point, Caller?” Duncan has lately started up a series of socially and economically responsible businesses, and his priorities have definitely been shifted into high gear! I’m proud of the work he is doing, but my heart is sad that I won’t see his blog light up on my reader anymore. Thank you, Duncan, for the support and the amazing conversations that have swirled around your writing. Stay in touch.

Tonight David and I shared a Johnny Rocket’s booth and indulged in chocolate milk shakes, onion rings and a killer game of dot-to-dots on my iPhone (yes….it’s a fun app). We had a great time hanging out and watching the kids come and go from this local hot spot. The movies are located nearby, and the high school football game had gotten out minutes before we sat down. Johnny Rocket’s was a hopping spot in our community tonight.

I thought about how hard we work to get kids into our church buildings, and yet how easily they flock to these community third places. One of the things I love about our church is that our student ministries pastor, Shaun Blakeney, understands how to show up in the places that matter. He was at the football game with some of his staff tonight making the connections that count. And there we were hanging out in a booth while our kids and their friends munched on burgers and fries. We adults are still trying to get the “church in the marketplace” concept, but our kids get it. They instinctively go where the action is. It isn’t the first lesson I’ve learned from middle schoolers and high schoolers, and I’m pretty sure it won’t be the last.

In my mind, the evening was accompanied by the 10th Avenue North song, “Love is Here…Love is Now.”

The shake wasn’t bad, either.

My house is located a smidge ahead of that last red hurricane symbol. No matter how you look at it, we’ve got a busy week ahead of us!

I know this is crazy, but I don’t mind the run-up to a hurricane. I like the activity, the willingness of strangers to help each other, talk to each other, wish each other well. I like buying ice cream in case the power goes out and we have to eat it in a hurry.

Then I like the hurricane to curve and go out to sea. I don’t want to watch my screen fly away again! So join me in saying “Turn, baby, turn….”

I’ve been bothered all day by the attacks leveled at Sarah Palin and her family. As I write this, I’m watching the Fox News guys nearly come to blows over her nomination. From the time I woke up this morning I heard about the Left Wing Bloggers and all their tricks. I’m pretty sure I belong on the right wing, and I don’t blog on politics, but I just have to say it: I applaud Sarah Palin. Here’s why.

I value authenticity.

Sarah Palin represents  a woman who is changing the world she lives in. She is doing what she believes to be right. And yes, her daughter messed up. Her daughter didn’t live up to the standards they hold, and she is now pregnant. Now she has made a hard choice: to value life and family over convenience and reputation.

Should this have happened in a family committed to family values? Should Sarah Palin be able to lift up her head with a seventeen year old, pregnant daughter? Yes. Because authenticity, as we know, doesn’t mean that we are perfect. It doesn’t mean that we have every move of every day scheduled and planned according to an ideal. Rather, it means we have ideals to live up to, even if we fail once in awhile. It means that the underlying values of life and commitment trump the lesser values of convenience, or appearance. It means that even when we miss the target completely, we don’t turn around and start shooting wildly with no goal in sight.

Authenticity is what makes Sarah Palin able to stand proud before her country and say “We are not perfect, but we know how to do what is right even if it hurts.”

What freedom there is in realizing that missing the target does not disqualify us from the tournament. Like the Palins, we can pick ourselves up and begin making right choices. And like the Palins, we may find that there is a plan for us that is immeasurably more than we could have imagined. How great the Father’s love is, lavished on us.

Authentic.

I’ve been reading The Suburban Christian by Albert Y Hsu, so my mind is on the unique needs of communities located in the suburbs. One of the well-documented issues with suburban living is our insularity. We are isolated by our own comfort levels: garages, air conditioning, fenced yards, single-family homes.

This week I’m getting to break out of my suburban comfort zone, because the air conditioning in the main part of our house broke down. In South Florida (at the height of hurricane season) this is not something to be taken lightly! I had a chance this morning to see first hand how the lack of a convenience — such as air conditioning — can drive us out to the community. As good as my coffee is here at home, it can’t compare to the climate controlled comfort of Starbucks at the moment! I shared my breakfast with my husband (for a brief moment in time) and then with a sweet older man reading up on nutrition now that his wife has passed away. I scared him off when I sneezed 20 times in a row (!!!) but before that we had a nice conversation, a conversation that never would have taken place if my AC had been working.

And now for my afternoon. I think it is time to walk across the fence and visit one of my two neighbors, both of whom have air conditioning and my coffee maker.

Dictionary:

antidote

(?n‘t?-d?t‘)

n.

1. A remedy or other agent used to neutralize or counteract the effects of a poison.
2. An agent that relieves or counteracts: jogging as an antidote to nervous tension.

I began thinking about antidotes today after noticing a rash of commercials promoting their product as an antidote to this or an antidote to that. When you look at the definition above you realize that being an antidote is a worthwhile kingdom goal for all of us!

So many times the people sitting next to us in Starbucks or in line at the grocery store are mired in problems for which there seems to be no cure. But we know differently. We are the antidote that points them to the cure. Jesus calls us to a radical, kingdom response to the toxins in our society. We aren’t supposed to dabble with the poison, we are supposed to administer the cure.

Knowing this, where do we need to apply the kingdom antidotes to society’s toxic poisons? How about these for a starter?

• Consumerism and over-spending
• Hurry and frantic, over-scheduled speed
• Selfishness in relationships
• Greed
• Blindness to social justice
• Worry

I could go on, but that list is already a lifetime of work administering antidotes. How about you? Do you need an antidote? Are you an antidote?  I’ve convicted myself with my words today, but I’m willing to walk down the road and see what happens. Today — which is all I can control — today I will be an antidote.

This is my entry for Watercooler Wednesday at Randy Elrod’s blog. 

I’ve been crazily, unbelievably busy the past two weeks with walking through God’s Kingdom with my eyes wide open. As you know, I’ve been feeling the lows of other people’s griefs, the highs of seeing my little Kylie start flapping her wings and getting some air, and the sheer fatigue of meeting the needs God puts in front of me.

Tonight I had dinner with my mom, who has memory and speech issues, my husband, and my single friend who recently lost custody of her four children and is struggling with medical issues that threaten to overwhelm her every minute of every day. Do you know what we did? We sat in Friday’s and we laughed. We laughed at the jokes my 12 year old neighbor tells every time he sees us. We laughed at the incredibly rude dad in the booth behind us who let loose with a burp that would have won any contest. We laughed at silly things, and we laughed at incredibly sad things. We enjoyed my friend’s recounting of the characters she has met in an ongoing support group. We laughed at her broke financial status, pretending to argue over the bill just because it was funny. We laughed at the charades we had to play with my mom, in order to bring her into the conversation. We even laughed when my mom said, “So what ever happened to that messy house you were having to clean up?” and my friend had to sheepishly admit that it was hers. I believe that God put a little bubble around us tonight and infused the four of us with just a bit of his crazy, undeniable joy and peace. It was the payoff for the tears I cried last week.

I was struck with one thought as we tussled over that bill at the end of dinner. My friend reached for her money, and truly wanted to pay even though I know her situation, and could never ever take her money. To my friend, that money she wanted to offer was the highest value thing she posessed. She wanted to give it to me. To me, the money for dinner was of relatively little value, a blip on the radar screen of life. I could give her that money and never think of it again. I thought back to my afternoon, an afternoon spent with three other friends working for hours on cleaning my friend’s home and preparing it for sale: a messy, thankless job that was only tolerable because it was shared and would be over soon. That time — those hours of sweat and strain — were my highest value offering. I can’t think of an offering that could possibly cost me more to give at this stage in my life.

How often do we salve our consciences by offering what comes easy to us — money, time, extra clothes, extra food — while withholding the true offering God wants from us? What is your highest value? ow does God want to use it?

This is my entry for the Watercooler Wednesday at Randy Elrod’s place.

Sometimes the simplest of phrases catch my ear and stick with me. Today it was a random comment by Tim Stevens, written on his blog. He was referring to Ebenezers, the coffee shop run by Mark Batterson’s church, National Community Church. The coffee shop was built as a place, he said, for the church and the community to hang out. That was it: the church and the community to hang out.

How do you do that?

Assuming that most churches will never build a coffee shop, how do you provide opportunities for the church to hang out with the community? In this instance I’m (for once) not necessarily referring to the individual within the church, but the church as a recognizable community figure. How does the church build its “brand” in the community?

I think the best answers to that question are creative, outward-focused opportunities for the church to build into their surroundings. I’d love to see more creative solutions than are usually proposed for this, solutions like art shows hanging in the church hallways, refreshments being served at community events provided by the church, tutoring services for neighborhood kids. Or maybe something as simple as having church members hang at the local hot spot on Friday nights. For us, that would be outside the movie theater sitting in front of Starbucks.

How do you do it? Where do you go to hang out with the community as a church?

This is my submission for Watercooler Wednesday at Ethos - Cultural Watercooler.

Swimming is where it’s at this Olympic year. I can’t resist Michael Phelps’ quest for the history books. One little lesson was brought home to me watching the past few days of Olympic glory. Apparently when you are swimming, how you finish is as important as how you run the race. At least two races that I know of were won — or lost — based on the swimmer’s hand position as they tapped the wall for the finish. The swimmer who kept their form and extended their hand to touch the wall won over the swimmer who flexed their hand at the last moment.

In life, too, we are often judged on how we finish. Blow the last seconds and you may not stand on the podium receiving your medal. I want to finish well. I want to follow through on my words and promises. I want to represent Him with my hand extended, forgetting what lies behind and straining toward what lies ahead.

I’m going to finish well.

We’ve turned a corner here in the Saunders household yesterday. The beauty of non-stop ministry situations is that they usually begin to see the light of truth clear away the darkness, and I feel as if I’m seeing that process play out in both the physical and the spiritual realms. When God restores broken things it feels like jumping into a clear, clean pool on the hottest day of summer. Everything is washed and refreshed.

Since I’ve had a few minutes to catch up on all my blogosphere friends, I thought I’d post links to the posts that I really enjoyed and helped me through the last two weeks. I haven’t had time to comment on them, but all of them either touched me, inspired me or humored me!

Ed Bahler wrote an interesting post this week that I’ve thought a lot about.

• A Rabbi and a  Christian: on how some of the issues the church faces are also facing Jewish faith communities.

Pete Wilson wrote about making sure, as you lead, that you are leading people to the right place. While you are there look at the link he gives to an Olympics cheer site.

All-time favorite blog post title of the week goes to the Church Bartender gang for this post: Let’s Get Naked.  Come on people, you know me…you can trust my recommendation. David Helbig and Jeremy should especially go check this one out.

I love everything Jeff Shinabarger posts, but I enjoyed dipping back into the culture/arts side of life with this post on Beautiful Losers.

When Anne Jackson talks, I listen over at Flowerdust, her blog. But writing on the Deadly Viper Character Assassins blog this week she had a great viewpoint on the John Edwards Affair. Grace…what a great word.

Joni wrote about Loneliness in the church and reminded me of one of my core values: hospitality. It was a great reminder of why we do what we do.

My friend Lisa Duvall just started a blog, Life according to Weezie. Go check her out and encourage her with a comment!

I’d give you more, but a nasty, nasty storm just blew threw and knocked out all our power. One girl is hollering in the shower and another keeps pushing the TV Remote. I guess I have to go! Enjoy, all.