Turn Off and Tune In

There's a new study out on what makes people happy. The study conducted by the University of Maryland sociologist John Robinson was published in the December issue of the journal Social Indicators Research. It looked at public opinion data from nearly 40,000 people ages 18 to 64, as well as time-use diaries that detail how people spend their days.

And what did the study conclude? They found that happy people spend more free hours socializing, reading and participating in religious activities, while unhappy people watch 30 percent more television!

The most recent figure from Nielsen Media Research indicate that the average American watches 4 1/2 hours of television per day. That is 31 1/2 hours every week. This is enough television to make anyone unhappy! Life is too short and there is too much to do to park yourself in front of a television that many hours a week.

Now, don't get me wrong. I enjoy a good TV show or sporting event as much as the next guy. Just last night all four of us watched the Syracuse Orange beat the Kansas Jayhawks in an exciting overtime basketball game. Our emotions went from elation to frustration during the course of the game. It was a thoroughly enjoyable family time.

Now, we don't know if watching television makes a person unhappy, or if those who are unhappy are drawn to more television as a way to ward off their unhappiness. But make no mistake, heavy television watching correlates with unhappiness.

So tomorrow, choose to be happy. Turn off the television. Engage in stimulating conversation. Enjoy hanging out with family and friends. Tell a funny story. Recall God's goodness this past year and thank Him for His many blessings.

Take time to turn off and tune in.

Infectious Greed

I wrote earlier about Alan Greenspan and his libertarian trust in unregulated financial markets to do the right thing. It seems as though Mr. Greenspan has changed his mind. He was called to testify before the House Oversight Committee on Thursday, October 23.

Listen to Mr. Greenspan's new "enlightened" views:

• He described the current financial crisis as a "once-in-a-century credit tsunami" and acknowledged that the crisis has exposed flaws in his thinking and in the workings of the free-market system.
• He told the House Oversight Committee that his belief that banks would be more prudent in their lending practices because of the need to protect their stockholders had been proven wrong by the current crisis. He called this a "mistake" in his views and said he had been shocked by that.
• He said he had made a "mistake" in believing that banks in operating in their self-interest would be sufficient to protect their shareholders and the equity in their institutions.
• He called this "a flaw in the model that I perceived is the critical functioning structure that defines how the world works."

Mr. Greenspan shouldn't have been shocked. In 2002 he appeared before Senate and had this to say:

"Why did corporate governance checks and balances that served us reasonably well in the past break down? At root was the rapid enlargement of stock market capitalizations in the latter part of the 1990s that arguably engendered an outsized increase in opportunities for avarice. An infectious greed seemed to grip much of our business community."

"The trouble, unfortunately, is that the shock of what has happened will keep malfeasance down for a while. But human nature being what it is -- and memories fade -- it will be back. And it is important that at that time appropriate legislation be in place to inhibit activities that we would perceive to be inappropriate."

"It is not that humans have become any more greedy than in generations past. It is that the avenues to express greed had grown so enormously.''

The human condition hasn't changed through the centuries. Greed, if left unchecked, consumes everything around it. It's never satisfied.

This is why Jesus told His followers in Luke 12:15:
"Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."

The only solution is a transformed heart. Greed and selfish interest can be changed to generosity, gratitude and humility by the power of Jesus Christ. He is able to deliver us from ourselves. The human heart is capable of all kinds of evil. External legislation and laws are needed to create moral boundaries for protection, accountability and stability.

We shouldn't be "shocked" that given the chance, individuals and corporations pursue profit-taking. We shouldn't be shocked when we seek corporate executives on lavish vacations even as they seek government bailouts. We shouldn't be shocked that banks and credit institutions sold sub-prime mortgages in order to turn short-term profits. We shouldn't be shocked to learn that in 2005, for the first time since the Great Depression, personal savings rates were in the red for an entire year! You see, we have met the enemy and he is us!

As Jesus instructed us, we need to "watch out" for all kind of greed. We need to "be on our guard" for infectious greed!

It Will Come Back

We had a great Men's Fraternity session this morning titled, "What Every Dad Needs to Know." Good stuff.

Our boys are grown and on their own, or well on their way. They're not hanging around the family room at night, not raiding our refrig, not playing in the marching band, not inviting friends over, not playing whiffle ball in the back yard. They're not living at home anymore. And if I think too long on this kind of stuff I begin to get sad.

But then I think about what our boys are doing now. Ryan is married, is finishing up his degree at OU and has accepted a full-time position with Chesapeake Energy. Jason is engaged with a January 3 wedding date just around the corner, serving students at Timberline Lodge in Colorado. And Josh and Jon are students at UNI, involved with The Navigator ministry and growing in their relationships with Christ.

When I think about the way God has blessed Sharon and I with four incredible boys and what they are doing with their lives, I get all teary eyed. But these are tears of joy and gratitude. God is so good and so faithful!

Robert Lewis shared this Erma Bombeck story. I end with this.

When Mike was three he wanted a sandbox and his father said, “There goes the yard. We’ll have kids over her day and night and they’ll throw sand into the flower beds and cats will make a mess in it and it will kill the grass for sure.” And Mike’s mother said, “It will come back.”

When Mike was five, he wanted a jungle gym set with swings that would take his breath away and bars to take him to the summit and his father said, “Good grief, I’ve seen those things and do you know what they look like? Mud holes in a pasture. Kids digging their gym shoes in…It will kill the grass.” And Mike’s mother said, “It will comeback.”

Between breaths when Daddy was blowing up the plastic swimming pool he warned, “You know what they’re going to do to this place? They’re going to condemn it and use it for a missile site. I hope you know what you’re doing. They’ll track water everywhere and you’ll have a million water fights and you won’t be able to take the garbage out without stepping in mud up to your neck and when we take this thing down we will have the only brown lawn on the block.” “It will come back,” smiled Mike’s mother.

When Mike was twelve, he volunteered his yard for a campout. As they hoisted the tents and drove in the spikes, his father stood at the window and observed, “Why don’t I just put the grass seed out in cereal boxes for the birds and save myself the trouble of spreading it around. You know for a fact that those tents and all those big feet are going to trample down every single blade of grass, don’t you? Don’t bother to answer,” he went on, “I know what you’re going to say—it will come back.”

The basketball hoop on the side of the garage attracted more crowds than the Winter Olympics. And a small patch of lawn that started out with a barren spot the size of a garbage can lid soon grew to encompass the entire side yard. And just when it looked like the new seed might take root, the winter came and the sled runners beat it into ridges and Mike’s father shook his head and said, “I never asked for much in this life—only a patch of grass.” And his wife smile and said, “It will come back.”

The lawn this year was beautiful. It was green and alive and rolled out like sponge carpet along the driveway where the gym shoes had run…along the garage where bicycles used to fall, and around the flower beds where little boys used to dig with ice tea. But Mike’s father never noticed the new grass. He anxiously looked beyond the yard and asked with a catch in his voice, “He will come back, won’t he?”

This Is Home

I've had Switchfoot's "This Is Home" running around in my head for some time. I knew there was a blog post in there somewhere, I just didn't know when or what.

I first heard the song this past summer on ESPN of all places. They used it as their theme song for the Title Town USA contest they were holding. I loved the song but didn't know anything about it. Josh did some hunting around and found that it was done by Switchfoot for the Prince Caspian movie.

This morning I put a slide show together using This Is Home. I used pictures from Eight Days of Hope. Enjoy!

This Is Home reminds me that this world is not my home. That my real home is in heaven. And it's imperishable and eternal. That it will never be destroyed. And that in my new home there will be no more tears, no more death, no more mourning, no more crying and no more pain. This is my real home, the home where I belong.

Every man, woman and child longs for a home like this. A place to call their own. A place to belong. I want to help people find their real home, a home prepared with love just for them.

I've been created for a place I've never known. This is home!

Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. John 14:1-3

Serve the City

Serve the City has a new video out that reviews the events of the 2008 flood. Click here to see the 10 minute video. You won't be disappointed. And because we have been faithful in little, God has opened doors for greater service in our community. This is His work. We have the priviledge of being His hands, His feet and His voice.

You Gotta Love This Country

Make sure to stop by your polling station tomorrow and cast your vote. And then stop by your favorite Starbucks and pick up your free coffee! You gotta love this country!

Which one of these characters will you vote for!!

Day 8

It's hard to believe that we have reached Day 8 already! It was a tiring but rewarding experience. The Cedar Rapids Gazette did an article on the conclusion of Eight Days of Hope. You can read it here.

Here are some of my personal thoughts and reflections (in no particular order):

• This group loves Jesus and loves serving him as a way of life. How else can you possibly explain why people from 44 states and 5 Canadian provinces would come to Cedar Rapids, sleep on a church floor and work for free!
• There is no way to adequately prepare a person and/or host church for one of these events. Last Sunday our parking lot was already full at 6:15 AM!
• Steve Tybor is incredible! He's too humble to take any credit, but others feed off of his energy and passion. His love for Christ is contageous! Being around Steve makes me want to be more like Jesus and to serve Him more faithfully.
• This group is well organized. How do you manage 1400 volunteers and do projects in 140 homes? 25 people from their advance team came to Cedar Rapids the week before the event to do assessments and begin work.
• Their leadership team is incredibly committed to their mission and to one another. Several on the leadership team are presently unemployed, yet they came anyway!
• I met some really talented people - electricians, plumbers, home builders, general contractors, carpenters, and a woman that does spray texture!
• God can do extraordinary things through ordinary people who make themselves available. The simple act of hanging sheetrock brought tears to the eyes of more than one home owner.
• Our church rocks! Everywhere I went I saw New Covenant folks. Thank you for linking arms with Eight Days of Hope to serve our community.
• Our students know how to work. I didn't see one of our students sitting around. They hung drywall, taped, repaired homes, painted, cleaned work sites and the church, and loved on home owners!
• My favorite part of the day was announcement time and home owner testimonies during dinner. I estimate that almost half of the home owners joined us for dinner. Hearing the home owners share from their hearts inspired all us to keep going.
• One of my personal hi-lights was seeing a home owner get a furnace purchased and installed. They were heating their home with a gas stove. The home owners joined us for dinner and worship on Saturday night.
• I can't believe that Eight Days of Hope does two of these a year. Where do they get the energy! OK, so I know where they get the energy, it's God inspired. I still can't believe that they do two a year!
• I really admire people who have learned or mastered their craft. It makes me wish I was more skilled in one of the construction trades.
• This group is characterized by humility and servanthood. That's a pretty powerful one-two punch. Maybe that's why God is so powerfully blessing this ministry.
• Steve Tybor made it clear that they would honor local building codes and ordinances. We worked closely with Code Enforcement and had a very positive working relationship with the City of Cedar Rapids. A special thank you to Jim Thatcher!
• Nine churches opened their doors to house over 800 volunteers from out of state. Thank you to New Life Community, St. Marks Lutheran, Faith Bible, Oakland Nazerene, River of Life, Bethany Lutheran, Trinity Lutheran, Concordia Lutheran, and Huss Presbyterian churches!
• New Covenant will continue to resource several of the home owners we have built a relationship with, to help them finish their home.
• Even though we worked on 140 homes, there are hundreds and even thousands left to be worked on. There is still a lot of work left to do. New Covenant must continue to be involved in some way.
• The lunch and sharing time at Palo on Saturday was one of the most incredible things I have ever witnessed or been part of. An entire community has been impacted.
• Vernon and his cooking team did a great job. They got up every morning at 3:30 so we could have a hot breakfast at 6:00 AM.
• I think I personally met people from over 30 different states!
• Dan Garrick is applying for the Construction Manager position with the Linn Area Long Term Recovery Coalition. I can't imagine a more qualified candidate. It would be totally awesome if Dan got the job! What a blessing he would be to our community.
• Butch and Juliene are awesome. They retired so that can volunteer/work with Eight Days of Hope. And they put in long days.
• Charlie and Greg served Palo like it was their own town. Tom Watson gave them a huge compliment when he said that all the work was done with professionalism. The Palo teams were turning out so much work that Tom had to call in two Cedar Rapids inspectors in order to keep up!
• Although there are a number of teens and young families who serve with Eight Days of Hope, it is primarily a "grey-haired" group. One man told me he is changing his retirement plans after serving here this past week.
• I'm thankful for daylight savings time!
• Charles is amazing. He needs to take a two week vacation!

I could keep on going, but I need to wrap this post up while it's still Day 8. To God be the glory, great things He has done! Thank you to all who had a part in this great adventure called Eight Days of Hope.

Day 7

Just when you don't think it can get any better, God pulls out all the stops and multiplies His blessings. This describes Day 7! You can click on the photo above to see a slide show of the day

Wow, where do I start. We had a hand-off meeting with the Leslie from the Long Term Recovery Coalition and others who are interested in seeing that the 105 homes we have worked on are not dropped. We left with an initial plan that will get us through the next several weeks.

I stopped by Palo to see the progress on some of the houses I visited earlier in the week. It so encouraging to see all that has been done. Greg was planning to leave today to return to Michigan but he decided to do additional electrical work for a home owner so he will leave on Sunday instead.

The city of Palo hosted a "Thank You" Pizza Lunch at the garden center. They planned for 450 and there may have been that many in attendance. Penny MC'd and introduced various home owners who shared what this experience has meant for them. I have never been part of a meeting like this in my entire life! Words can't describe what took place in that room over a pizza lunch! And of course Charlie was introduced and received a well deserved round of applause. Hope has been restored to an entire community!

I stopped on the NW side to visit some homes that are in process. It was so awesome to see someone from New Covenant in every home I visited today! Then I stopped in on Mark Forstrom and the house he and our youth group has been working on all week. What a transformation! This is the house that had terrible termite damage. Herman, the home owner, and his family came to dinner tonight and expressed his gratitude to our entire group!

From there it was down to Czech Village and to catch up with the progress on Nikki's house. This is the home Charlie Snodgrass, John Herder and our youth group has been working on. All the sheetrock got hung today and they made great progress taping. I called for a new water heater for her and that was delivered later in the day.

Over ten home owners were introduced at dinner. It is so encouraging after a long day to hear their heart-felt gratitude for what has been done for them. Mark, a volunteer from Pennsylvania, had the opportunity to pray with a 15 year old boy on the work site this week. Today the family came and joined him for dinner. Mark taught the 15 year old how to use the compound miter saw this week. He enjoyed it so much, he wanted to keep Marks saw. Mark did him one better. He invited the family onto the stage this evening and presented the young man with his own saw! This is good stuff! Mark is one of my new heros!

Steve reported that approximately $2 million of construction has been accomplished this past week, and 270 jobs have been finished! Wow! What a week. No wonder we are all a little tired!

But our sore backs and aching bones are a small price to pay for the many blessings we have all received. We have been blessed with food to eat, homes to live in, work to do, and new friends to enjoy. We have been blessed to be part of something God is doing in our community. We have been blessed to hear testimonies of changed lives. We have all received multiplied blessing this past week!