{gutsy faith}

Freedom

2007-12-17T15:33:00.000-08:00

To be honest, this has been a year of hell for the Edmondson family. In addition to the usual 10-12 emergency room visits that our boys grace us with, the stress from travel and the business have taken their toll on me. I haven't had a true vacation or any appreciable break all year. The number of events the company participated in ran into each other, meaning the ability to take a break has been impossible.

It's gotten to the point that I think I'd forgotten how to laugh. I've caught myself being more negative about almost everything in general. Cheri—my wife—made that observation the other day. I think her statement was "I don't think you're a negative person. I just think your work has caused you to become jaded, and that's bleeding into the optimistic person I once knew." Ouch! Words can hurt.

So I started my vacation on Friday. It was the first carefree day I've had in a long time. It felt great. No stress. No pressure. I turned off the ringer on my cell phone and ignored it rang all day long from people trying to reach me.

Then this weekend it snowed here in KC. When we woke up today the sun was beaming in the cloudless sky. I looked out the back window across the open field blanketed in white and I felt the outside calling me to come play. Unfortunately, commitments we'd made to others prevented me from getting out in the snow with my boys until mid-afternoon. I bundled them up, grabbed our Wham-O® snow discs (nothing sleds better!), and took them to our secret sledding hill. It was incredible. Just us and the open hill.

It was Brady's first time sledding. I was a little worried my two year old would be afraid. I mean this hill is no small deal—steep and a bit treacherous. But like the brave little trooper he is, the Pidgy climbed right into my lap and trusted me to keep him safe the whole time. He threw care to the wind, his hands flapping in the air as if he were a canvas-covered eagle, laughing as hard as he could throughout the ride. "Dat wath awethum, Daddy!" he shouted at the conclusion of our first ride down the hill. And yes, it was "awethum!"

It was on our third trip down that we rolled off the sled together into the snow and I belly-laughed as well. Flat on my back I stared into the blue sky, tears in my eyes, embracing the moment fully, realizing that this was how life was meant to be lived—fearless, risky, free, passionate.

This was the best day I've had in recent memory. I owe it all the example set by a two year old. Sometimes we just underestimate what we can learn from children. Today I learned to laugh again. And that, if I hold onto it, is enough to get me through any day.

I'm Tattooed

2007-10-29T17:41:00.000-07:00

OK, everyone. Many of you have heard the news that I was getting a tattoo. For my birthday on Saturday, I finally took the plunge. After 41 years on the planet, I finally threw caution to the wind and got inked! Just couldn't put it off any longer. You can see the result in the photos on this entry.

To answer the questions of those friends who haven't gotten a tattoo:

Did it hurt? Not really. Like getting a sunburn smacked.

Why so big? Because I didn't know if I'd go through with another one beforehand, so I thought I'd make this one count. After the process I'm already thinking of where my next one will go and what it will be.

What is it? A Trinity symbol surrounded by a wreath of Scottish thistle. Trinity for Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Thistle to represent the Edmondson heritage.

Do you like it? No. I love it! I can't believe I've waited so long to get one.

Where did you get it? Mercy Seat Tattoo in Kansas City, MO. Chris Orr was my tattoo artist. He is awesome. If you live in the KC area and are looking for a great tattoo studio, go there. They are very professional, polite, and treat their customers with a great deal of respect.

For those friends of mine who have thought of getting a tattoo and have wondered whether or not they should, let me highly recommend it. It was truly a spiritual experience that I do not regret one bit. In the words of a young friend of mine, Jason Sivewright, "We have one life and one body to decorate as we choose. Why wouldn't we decorate it in full color?" I completely agree.

Now, on to bigger challenges!

Lessons for a Father

2006-06-18T21:10:00.000-07:00

The young adult Bible study I co-lead has been going through the book Who Is God? by C.S. Cowles. We’ve been in it for three weeks now and some of the discussion the book has led us into has just been fantastic. Today’s discussion centered around the idea of Jesus as Lord because of the resurrection. Last week we spent our whole hour wrestling with the concepts of if God is almighty and totally sovereign, then why do horrific things happen in the world? It’s just been brilliant discussion.

While it’s been brilliant discussion, I’ve found myself learning more about who God is lately through the gift of fatherhood. My wife and I have two of the most beautiful and brilliant boys to have walked the earth. Logan is five, Brady is 18 months. Both are as strong willed as they come, meaning as they grow, we’ve really got a challenge on our hands.

Logan, in particular, has single-handedly has cost us thousands in his five short years on the planet. Yes, thousands beyond the normal thousands that all kids cost their parents. He has broken 3 TVs, 4 VCRs, 1 DVD player, a microwave, a dishwasher, at least 2 CD players (possibly 3—we’re still debating the one), 2 irons, 3 showerheads (just don’t ask), several cell phones, a vacuum cleaner, a steam cleaner…and that’s the short list. He’s a one-man demolition crew, hands-on learner. He’s got to touch, feel, examine, test, push, pull, smash, and hammer everything he sees. Telling him don’t touch means nothing to him. He will push the limits even though I’ve just gotten the words out of my mouth, even though it means sure retribution will follow. Explaining the reasons why he shouldn’t touch just doesn’t register. He still cannot resist the urge to handle everything, no matter what it might be. He doesn’t do it to annoy us. He doesn’t do it to be bad. He’s just insatiably curious. He can’t resist the call within him to explore his world.

As you might imagine, dealing with Logan alone requires a certain amount of restraint and grace. Every time he touches anything I want to snatch it from his hands for fear he’ll break it. And yet I still have to allow him learn how to do things. How do I allow him to learn the world around him in the way he was created to learn it, and yet still prevent him from bringing our house down around us? I find myself balancing constantly on a massive scale, on the extremes between wanting to scream my fool head off at him at times (as if that will do any good), and wanting laugh my head off at his silliness and genius. What scares me the most is his little brother, Brady, is a lot like him (and we had prayed he might be our calm child—no dice). Yet despite all the frustration they both have caused me, I am head over heals in love with those two boys. They are incredible. I can’t get enough of them.

How like Logan humanity must be for God. He screams warnings at us and we still don’t hear him. We press on with our own plans, headless of what the Heavenly Father wants us to do for our own good. And once we’ve had it our own way, and broken it all to pieces, God still comes in, puts our lives back together, loves us, and extends grace just a little farther.

I just love being a father. Thank goodness God loves being a heavenly Father to humanity.

Yahoo! The Boycott's Over!

2005-12-06T07:22:00.000-08:00

Two days ago I was thumbing through the stack of magazines on my desk, most of them from Christian publishers. I noticed that most of them have some article or content relating to the upcoming Disney release of The Chronicles of Narnia. Like all of you who have read the Narnia series in your younger days, I’ve been waiting anxiously for this movie to come out. After the success Peter Jackson had with depicting the Lord of the Rings trilogy, I can’t wait to see what Disney does with The Chronicles of Narnia.

But then it occurred to me that two of the magazines were from Focus on the Family. Both Magazines prominently feature publicity shots from the movie on their covers. My first thought was “cool.” But then it occurred to me that Focus was one of the larger Christian organizations that only a few years ago spent much publicity, radio time, and pages in their print publications calling on the Christian public to boycott Disney. So was the Southern Baptist denomination, the American Family Association (AFA), and a host of others.

A quick search of their website revealed to me that I was right. But then I discovered that sometime in the summer all of these organization called off the boycott on Disney. Most all sited changes in their leadership as reasons for calling off the boycott. They felt the boycott had made significant enough impact on Disney to warrant the end of the action. One of the below listed articles (the one on the Southern Baptist’s site) stated that the fact that Disney was going to finance and distribute C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe was a big reason why the boycott was called off.

Check out these related articles on each of their web sites detailing what I’m talking about:
Focus on the Family
American Family Association
Southern Baptist Convention

OK, so Disney dumps a few leaders (Michael Eisner and the Weinstein brothers who led Miramax) and then they decide to release one of C.S. Lewis’s classics on the big screen and they are suddenly OK? Are you kidding me? Have they taken a look at the movies that Disney’s Miramax is going to be releasing in the near future? Most are no better than their past releases that the Southern Baptists, Focus on the Family, the AFA, and others were calling for the embargo of Disney in the first place. And just because the leadership has changed do you really think that the company as a whole has?

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not bashing Disney. I never have. The are a large entertainment corporation. The vast array of their holdings no doubt might eventually mean one of their companies would produce a product or entertainment option that would differ with the values we hold as Christians. It’s inevitable. But to their credit, they also produce an awful lot of stuff that’s completely wholesome and perfect for my four year old to watch, listen to, and fill his young mind with. Kudos to Disney for that! I supported them during the boycott and I still stand by them now that the boycott is off.

Now I’m not upset that the larger Christian organizations have called off the to boycott of Disney. I say it’s about time! And good for them for getting behind the Narnia film. I hope it is a smashing success.

My indictment comes on the leadership of the large Christian organizations that called for the boycott of Disney nine years ago. Ironically, as these same Christian organizations recently called off the boycott on Disney in time for the Christmas season, they have called for a boycott on any company (Target stores mostly) who says “Happy Holidays” rather than “Merry Christmas” to its customers. How ironic that we now are being asked boycott Target store for something so silly as that, yet Disney’s boycott is off and their Miramax film company is still cranking out movies that are definitely not family friendly.

The problem lies in the fact that the boycott should never have been called for in the first place. When we as the Christian community begin acting as a political or economic force to be reckoned with, then we are acting less like the Church and more like conquistadors. Aren’t we supposed to be about loving people into the kingdom. We aren’t supposed to be legislating Christianity. We aren’t supposed to be about threatening the financial stability of legitimate secular companies just because they function in culturally acceptable ways, even though those culturally acceptable ways differ from what the Church teaches.

When the leadership of the major Christian organizations function like this they are acting in the same way as that of the Pharisees, the Jewish leaders who led Israel, in Jesus’ day. They used their considerable political weight to try to sway the Roman government. They squashed anyone who operated contrary to their manmade rules and plans. They turned the economy so that it functioned around their world, not the other way around. And as a result, Jesus condemned them and their self-righteous ways. He accused them of making rules that no one could live by, of tying the people down with heavy burdens they never were intended to carry. In fact, Jesus outright condemned them for it.

In a very real sense, that’s exactly what the leadership of these organizations has done to Christianity in North America. They should never call for boycotts in the first place. When they do that they put unrealistic burdens on the Church. They ask our people to speak with their wallets, to not purchase products from companies that might produce some sort of product that seems counter to our beliefs, or that might have donated money to an unwholesome non-profit organization. And isn’t that an unrealistic task? Who could keep up with that? For instance, should we not drink Pepsi® or is it Coke®? Both have donated funds to organizations that I would consider questionable. So then that means we only drink RC Cola®, right? Has anyone checked them out? Maybe we just go with a generic brand (if we can stomach it). No wait, has anyone checked out the generic brand to make sure they aren’t donating to unwholesome organization? Oh, then maybe we’ll just drink iced tea or juice or bottled water. Oh, but wait. Lipton® and Aquafina® are owned by Pepsi® and Minute Made® and Dasani® are owned by Coke®… You get the picture. It’s a mind field trying to navigate a boycott of a major corporation like this. And it’s an unnecessary guilt trip.

Furthermore, doesn’t it smack a lot of hypocrisy to have had a boycott going for nine years (which, realistically, not many in the Christian community where buying into) and then suddenly it ends? And the end is being justified because a few executives parted ways with Disney, and because they are now releasing the Chronicles of Narnia into theaters? Come on! As I said before, Disney hasn’t changed it’s stripes much from how it was operating when the boycott was in full swing. What’s the real reason for the change? I’d really like to know. But it sure looks suspicious that as soon as the marketing hype started this past summer for Chronicles, suddenly the boycott is ended.

In the end, calling for boycotts makes the Church look stupid, narrow-minded, and out of touch with reality. And then repealing them after nothing’s really changed and, oh by the way, there’s a really great movie coming out that we’d all love to see looks contrived, hypocritical, and suspicious.

Wouldn’t it be far better to make change in the world by overwhelming it with unconditional love? Call me crazy, but I think so.

Enough is Enough

2005-12-04T19:38:00.000-08:00

Ok. I’m a Christian. Been one for a few decades now. Been on staff as a youth pastor for a number of years. From there I moved to Kansas City to serve in our denominational headquarters. I’ve been a published author in the Christian world. I’ve had articles published, curriculum published, even books. Four years ago I was asked to leave my position in our denomination’s headquarters structure to oversee the formation of a new youth ministry publishing company for the Nazarene Publishing House, Barefoot Ministries.

It’s been a great ride, but unfortunately, all that work in the Christian church world has done one thing to my personality. It’s made me safe. At one time in my life I spent a lot of time giving people a piece of my mind. I didn’t give a rip if people thought I was right or wrong. What did it matter anyway? I knew I was right, and that’s all that mattered. As you can imagine, I’ve managed to hack a few people off over the years. Realistically, at one time in my life I was a real jerk. That’s a part of my personality that I’ve worked hard to change, to keep in check and to allow God to work on. For the last fifteen years or so, I have calmed down significantly. While I do have my occasional flare, I usually manage to not explode in the public sector like I used to. And I really try to keep the collateral damage of destroying people along the way in check.

But I’ve recently begun to wonder if I really need to keep my mouth shut as I’ve learned to do after all. I was born with the personality I have, given it by a creative, brilliant God who knew me before I even existed, and knew the kind of person I would become. He endowed me with the fiery personality I have had from the beginning, the personality that I feel like I’ve abandoned rather than shaped.

To be quite honest, there are things about modern, North American Christianity that I really just don’t like, but I’ve stopped spouting about it. Regarding North American Christianity, there are times, in fact, that I just don’t even want to identify myself as being “Christian.” Yeah, you read it right. I don’t want to be Christian a lot of the time. Before you judge me let me explain what I mean. What I mean to say is that I don’t want to be identified by what modern, North American Christianity has been defined as. In many ways Christianity has been defined as being a narrow-minded, uncompassionate, political movement that wields much power, and condemns many a sinner to hell. Sure, many Christians like to spout the adage that they “love the sinner, but hate the sin.” Unfortunately, that often becomes an excuse to degrade others in the name of Christ. Modern Christianity has become more of a white collar country club than the healing, forgiving, compassionate love monster Jesus always intended the Body of Christ to be. A lot of Christians reading this right now just got their dander up and are now ready to brand me a heretic. Sorry if I’ve offended you, but I think it’s time we faced facts.

Don’t get me wrong. There are Christian congregations and organizations that are doing exactly what Christ called them to do. But unfortunately, they are in the minority. For example, our company’s facility is located in an area of Kansas City that has seen better days. We have hookers that work right on the corner of our main building. This last summer I personally was almost caught in the crossfire of a drive-by shooting between rival gangs on my way back to the office from a meeting I had attended. We are smack in the middle of the hood. Our facility is also sandwiched between two fantastic ministries: The Kansas City Urban Youth Center and St. Mary’s Daycare Center. Both organizations do an incredible job of reaching out to the lonely, the lost, and the outcast people of the world in a variety of ways. They reach out to those whom the world does not esteem. They are truly the body of Christ to the people they minister to. And I am proud that our company has fantastic relationships with both organizations and that we try to do all we can to support their worthy ministries, either through our employees volunteering their time, financial assistance to them, or other means of support. These are the kind of organizations whose causes we should be championing! But you never see their humble work getting headlines and overwhelming support.

Then this last week I heard that many Christian organizations are calling for boycotts on companies who have used “Happy Holidays” as a greeting in their marketing, or have asked their employees to greet customers with “Happy Holidays” rather than “Merry Christmas.” This last week I heard no less than three different radio shows that devoted their entire time slots to this subject. It’s not just on the Christian radio shows, but it’s being heard on the conservative radio shows such as that of Bill O’Reilly and Shawn Hannity. Groups like Focus on the Family and the American Family Association are calling for the boycott of Target Stores, or any others who say “Happy Holidays” rather than “Merry Christmas.”

My question is, why are we devoting such energy to rallying the troops around something so ridiculous as this? And don’t give me the line “they’re trying to take ‘Christ’ out of ‘Christmas’” routine. So what if they do! Let them. They are secular companies. While they hopefully have Christians working in their organizations, the companies themselves aren’t Christian. If it was a church or a church ministry that was calling it’s people to say “Happy Holidays” rather than “Merry Christmas,” then I might understand this. But why are we politicizing and focusing on this so much? It really isn’t a worth it. If the leaders calling for the boycotts spent the same amount of energy calling Christians to actually go out and feed the hungry, seek the lost, and healing the dying world they live in rather than turning such mole hills into mountains, then this Earth would truly be a better place.

So what if there is an agenda behind it? Call it a conspiracy if you want to. What if they are trying to subversively wipe out Christianity by systematically removing anything religious from the public sector? If the Church in North America was actually doing what the Church is called to do, then it would mean nothing at all. Let the secular companies do what they want. They will never wipe our Christianity, or Christ, or God. Remember Ancient Rome? Rome tried to squash Christianity. The Romans were pretty blatant about their intentions. They failed. The growth of Christianity exploded in Rome, and it eventually became the capital of the Catholic Church. What about modern-day China. It is following the same pattern as that of Ancient Rome, and the Church is growing exponentially in that country.

I say enough of turning Christianity into a political and economic movement. If we ever want the chance to sway the opinions of the far-left liberals into calling on Christ to be their Savior, it won’t happen because we beat them over the head with a mandated morality that doesn’t align with the values they currently live by. It will happen because we love them unconditionally, where they are, as they are. Beating the secular world up with economic boycotts only serves to drive a wedge deeper between the Church and the secular world.

Enough is enough! Be the Church, not a political party!

Just Getting Started

2005-11-23T21:31:00.000-08:00

I've had a deep desire to start my own blog for some time. But when one's alarm goes off at 4:30 AM and then his day is nonstop until 8:30 PM when the kids go down, and then you spend the next hour and a half doing what home chores have to be done and putting things together so that you can do it all over again the next day, who really has time?

Well, as the addage goes, you make time for those things that are really important to you. So late evenings will be when I finally get a chance to share my thoughts, my musings, my rants about the world, life, theology, and anything else that might enter the equation. Hope you'll join me on the journey!