Heartwarming

This little gem is for my two good buddies, Danny Debelius and Brian Dunn, who happen to work in the Lower Downtown section of Denver.

Have a great convention fellas!!! :)

Kicking the Bucket

The Denver City Council has unanimously passed an ordinance barring protesters from carrying buckets of feces during the convention. But some groups are calling the ruling excessive and insulting, because they say they have already signed an agreement promising not to toss, smear or spray feces.

The ruling also bars protesters from possessing chains, locks or other materials that could be used to create human barricades.

You can't stop him. . . .you can only hope to contain him.

http://www.nme.com/news/bono/38594


400 dollars. . . . . sheesh.

what key are we in?

Best blog from this week:


If anyone went to music school, this David Crowder post is hilarious.

Faith like a criminal

Luke 23:39-43

39 One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: "Aren't you the Christ? Save yourself and us!"

40 But the other criminal rebuked him. "Don't you fear God," he said, "since you are under the same sentence? 41 We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong."

42 Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom."

43 Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise."

So, I was reading this passage today and was struck by the crazy faith of the second thief. Remember that this conversation is happening as Jesus is hanging on the cross, humiliated, beaten, and almost dead. If there was ever a time for someone to doubt who Jesus was and what power He had, this would be the time.

Some probably see Faith in what the first thief said. But, by the reaction of the second thief we learn that those comments ("save yourself and us") were not out of a heart that feared God. It was an anxious heart (understandably) looking for a quick answer.

I wonder how many times my faith is like the first thief who wants God to do a certain thing, and wants it now.

I'm amazed at the quiet confidence of the second thief, who could see through the madness and chaos and put his only hope and faith in Jesus. Its crazy! How did the thief even see and know that Jesus would have a "kingdom"? The King was on the cross next to him!

Faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.

Lord, help us to develop a quiet confidence in You and in the ultimate outcome of your plans, which will always be for our good.

Aaron

I'll be bahhhhck (or: Bad Day for Wasps at 1772 Gordon)

(this post is all in good fun, and should be read accordingly :) )

So, last night a hoard of angry wasps attacked my daughter, Eden, and son, Sam around 7:30 at night. In the wasps defense, Sam and Eden ruthlessly barged into their territory and invaded their personal, wasp space.

But, it was crazy, Sam was stung 4 times under one arm, and Eden, 3 times on the hand. There were a few hours of screaming and wailing at the Britton house.

Hello? This is why I moved to the suburbs! What's with the aggressive, Africanized devil-wasps? (disclaimer, those last two sentences were jokes)

Needless to say, this kind of animal aggression will not stand at the Britton house. There is a food chain, there is a life cycle, there is dominion, and it must be respected. (apologies, Ellen Stokes)

So, Jody went to Wal-Mart and bought some "liquid wasp death" to do the job right. (I still smell it on my shoes. . . I think there's some illegal stuff in there. . . . I don't care)

I went out this morning, early, as the wasps slept and executed a perfect sneak attack with "liquid wasp death".

Oh, the glory of it all. Wasps were falling out of their hives on the ground. One, in its "not yet dead" state tried to use its remaining energy to "fly" to me and attack. The wasp made it about 3 feet and fell harmlessly out of the sky.

One wasp was still struggling from the 1/16 bottle of "liquid wasp death" that was poured into its home last night. I felt bad about that. Then I sprayed him some more.

I killed roughly 14 wasps (aaron did not realize we had such a wasp problem until today, he won't be caught unprepared again).

"Liquid wasp death" has an 8 foot spray range (roughly) and so you actually get some kick and some power in your spray as you attack. Needless to say, I felt like this:


Good times, (not for the wasps)
Aaron

A Marriage of Inconvenience

". . . to love honor and cherish
in sickness and in health
for richer or for poorer
for better or worse
in sadness and joy
forsaking all others
keeping yourself only
unto her as long as you both shall live. . . "

Those are the traditional marriage vows that are spoken thousands of times across our country every summer. Some folks change them a bit, some read them verbatim, but all vows are fairly close to this in theme, tone, and content.

I wonder, sometimes, as I interact with couples at many places along the road of dating/engagement/marriage/separation/divorce; how many of us mean these vows with no qualifications and no strings attached.

I wouldn't want to make weddings a somber affair with no joy, and stern-faced seriousness (although some pre-marital meetings should look like that :) ) . I also don't mean to scare some to the point where they delay marriage unnecessarily and are afraid of commitment. But, I'm not sure that many of us understand those vows, and marriage, correctly.

When you get married, you are giving yourself to the other person with no qualifications. Its not "I promise you all of these things. . . . . .if you hold down a good job" or "I promise you all of these things. . . . if we get to live in a certain place" or even "I promise you these things as long as you don't do ______"

No, marriage is a covenant that we are promising "as long as we both shall live".

I think many today are involved in a "marriage of convenience" where they never really gave themselves totally to the other person. Their marriage is coasting along, because their life circumstances are coasting along. And so all seems well, as long as all keeps going well in their place in life.

As soon as something happens, something like this is probably said "you promised that after 5 years we would be ______________" or "you knew from when we were dating that what I wanted was _____________".

These statements, and others like them, show a heart that isn't totally committed to another person. Its a qualified commitment,. . . . . a "50/50" commitment (oh, how I wish we could eliminate that statement from marriage resource materials).

So, "what are you saying Aaron. . .are you saying someone just has to shut up and take it and be quietly miserable for their whole life if things are going in a different direction than they thought??"

Well, No, hopefully not. Here's a nutshell of what I'm saying:

1) Before marriage, expectations need to be made known on a) where you want to live b) when and how many kids you want to have c) who wants/needs to work and for how long d) how do we do our finances. . .etc. .

2) All "plans" are subject to change and you aren't making a commitment to the person based on a-d above. You are making a commitment based on your love for that person and your mutual commitment to Christ.

3) During marriage, if things "change" and someone quits following the "plan". There needs to be open dialogue and perhaps outside help through counseling and friendships to help figure out if/why/when the plan is changing.

You see, when we married someone, we said "this is my life". . . ."this person is my spouse". . ."this is what I'm committing to". God honors a commitment like that, and gives us a pattern to follow in His Word, in pursuit/forgiveness/faithfulness to our covenant. Read Hosea. . . his wife was a prostitute and God continually told Hosea to take her back.

If only more of us would be patient with our spouse until we get somewhere close to a "Hosea level" of faithfulness and commitment.

So, if you're dating or engaged to someone. Make sure that your "love" for them is not based on anything circumstantial. Make sure they would look just as good with no money, no job, and both of you living in the Sudan (God could call you there, read Isaiah 6). Make sure that your commitments are based on your faith in God (none of us can keep marriage vows by ourself) and on your love for that person, not who you wish they would be or on things they have promised you.

If you are married, it might be time to renew the vows (I really like this). If you started down a path of convenience that has turned upside down,. . . and your love has turned with it. . . . . than perhaps its time to hit the "reset" button on this whole thing and renew your commitment to that person.

If you're the person who is changing the plans and jerking around your spouse. Remember, that the best thing for you and for your joy is to stay married. If you are doing things to endanger that reality, cut it out. Love your wife/husband by being considerate to them and putting your own new plans on hold and bringing them along slowly. It has been said, "A leader with no followers is just a guy taking a walk". Amen. . .

For both spouses. . . if you are so concerned about your joy and about "getting what you want", remember that what will bring you the most joy is a happy/adventurous/committed/loving marriage, and not some "wilderness man" or "white picket fence home" fantasy. Cut it out, love your wife/husband and move from there.

Let's all pursue what Christ has for us, pursue our joy in the joy of our spouse and have a loving, awesome Marriage of Inconvenience.

(after all, it wasn't very convenient of Jesus to die on the cross for us. . . He did that to secure His covenant)

Aaron

Good stuff

HT: Doug Wilson

"To be sure, food keeps us alive, but that is only its smallest and most temporary work. Its eternal purpose is to furnish our sensibilities against the day when we shall sit down at the heavenly banquet and see how gracious the Lord is. Nourishment is necessary only for a while; what we shall need forever is taste" (Robert Farrar Capon, The Supper of the Lamb, p. 40).