Yard

Last fall, I got tired of the weeds and bare spots in my yard. So I started following the instructions from a local lawn and garden center on taking care of the lawn.

I verticut the lawn, reseeded it, fertilized it and put down lime. I put winterizer down at the right time. I sharpened the mower blade. I made sure the leaves were up over winter. I put down preemergent and fertilizer at the right time. I sprayed for broad leaf weeds at the suggested time.

I even edged the lawn.

So by following the instructions, my lawn looks pretty good. Lush and dark green.

My yard isn't perfect though. Still have a pile of brush out back that I need to take care of in the corner of the yard. And there are still weeds and patches of spurge and henbit that haven't died off yet. And I know that the grubs are lurking and I will have to take care of them when the time is right.

I'm just reminded of how life is like my lawn. Far stretch you say?

You see: we have instructions. God wrote a book: the Bible. I can go my own way and try and do things the way I want to and ignore things and my life will get weedy and bare and parts will be neglected. Or I can follow the instructions and see dramatic improvement in a short time.

And when the time is right I will have to take care of that messy brush pile back in the corner and those pesky grubs lurking below the surface.

Going to take some effort and a several seasons to get the mess cleaned up...

Busy

Since Monday morning, I have reffed four high school soccer matches, prepared for a bible study, led a bible study, wrote an e-mail newsletter, done the laundry, mowed the lawn, trimmed the lawn, answered a bunch of music business e-mails, and done my day job - three times.

I haven't even had time to play any Half Life 2 on the XBox!

But I take comfort in that being this busy is just for a time, a season.

I know that the five hours of soccer a night will be over in mid to late May. And while I enjoy the reffing and interaction with the kids during the season (as well as the small amount of money that I get), I am sure glad when the season is over.

And I do try to keep some balance in my life by not reffing on Wednesday nights so that I can get caught up on all the stuff I can't do the rest of the week.

Unfortunately, Loralie sometimes feels like a soccer widow.

Especially when I have to leave before she gets up and get home about the time she is going to bed.

And that is never good...

Today

Today is Easter. Really different for us.

We went to church today at our daughter's new church that she just joined last Sunday. Our son was home for 24 hours from college and went with us. Lot's of people in attendance.

We go there early so that we could get a parking space.

I used the men's room prior to going into the sanctuary.

As I turned to wash my hands (yes, contrary to what some ladies may believe some men do wash their hands before leaving a rest room), I noticed a guy in a fairly distinctive shirt using a paper towel to wipe up the counter. Just getting it all nice and neat before he left. A little act of serving others.

Then once the service started there were three men and six women backing up the praise band in a sort of chorus. This guy was one of them (remember, he had a fairly distinctive shirt on).

As I reflected on this I came to the realization that I need to look for those little acts of servant hood. All too often it is about me and not others. And all too often, I miss those opportunities to show others just a little kindness, even if they don't know the kindness being done for them.

Amazing what one can learn on a trip to the men's room...

Reimagining Church

I just finished the book Reimagining Church by Frank Viola (no, not that Frank Viola for you fellow Twins fans). It might seem like it took a while (because it did) to those of you who have been following this. But I have been ready several other books at the same time.

Frank's central premise is that we need to move to a more organic church than the current model of the organized hierarchical pastor based model that currently exists throughout the United States. I couldn't agree more. Think of organic church as a house church.

But I am struggling with the radical solutions proposed by Frank.

Two things. One is that I fear the kind of intimacy that an organic church calls for from its members. Part of that is my Norwegian Lutheran stoic reserved heritage. Not that it is a bad thing, it is just a part of who I am.

The other thing, is that making the move to an organic church is a totally radical step. I have been steeped in the culture of being a "member" of a church. Of being a part of an organization. Of having "worship" planned out. Of having a liturgy.

So this all goes into the pot. Just as I am struggling with what to do about the organized, corporate church, I am struggling with where we go and who we gather to worship with. That is not elitist by the way. The who we gather to worship with should more accurately be phrased as to where are we supposed to be worshipping?

So the pot gets full of unanswered (for now) questions that go up to God and a look to the inspiration from the Holy Spirit as to the answers. It may be that this is a process of many small steps rather than a big leap.

I look forward tot he seeing what the answers are.

And I hope for the courage to follow through on those answers...

Easter Greetings

I sent this e-mail out to all those on our LL Songs mailing list and it is for you also:

Loralie and I wanted to wish you a blessed Easter this weekend.

Spring is a time of numerous new beginnings and fresh starts and nothing represents new beginnings like Easter weekend. Change is celebrated throughout the weekend. From Maunday Thursday (where the Last Supper is celebrated) to Good Friday (where Christ's death on the cross for our sins is observed) to Easter Sunday (where we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus from the dead) new beginnings are observed.

And this is an Easter of new beginnings for Loralie and myself. For the first time in around ten years Loralie won't be singing at the sunrise service on Easter morning. Our church eliminated the service this year. And with our daughter Ellen joining a new church and working strange shifts, we have decided to attend her church with her this Sunday. We will also be able to gather with Loralie's sisters on Sunday afternoon since they have both moved to Overland Park in the past year.

So this year, whether you are celebrating old traditions or creating new ones, we hope that you will keep in mind the true reason for this Easter season and have a safe, restful and peaceful weekend.

Thanks:

Eric & Loralie Tangen

Living Water: Vessels of Refreshment

A pivotal chapter in Brother Yun's book Living Water.

This is titled: Vessels of Refreshment. I was really amazed at the depth of the chapter.

The explosive growth of the church in China is explained through a sort of "power month" where every believer was asked to lead three people to Christ and each leader asked to bring five people to Christ between Christmas and New Years. Then they are supposed to disciple those people and train them to reach others. And they did it!

This is so foreign to our practices in the US. We want to be comfortable and not reach out of our comfort zone. Telling someone about Christ is scary since we want to be liked and not looked at as strange.

Brother Yun points out that before we can expect to see a revival in our nation, believers need to have a revival in our hearts. We tend to pray for revival and then ignore the work that needs to be done bring it about. Or we expect others to bring it about while we stand on the sidelines and cheer them on. Maybe write a check once in a while. Sanitizing our faith instead of living it out in a world that desperately needs us to be real and authentic.

We're going to look at the chapter more next week. Too much meat in this chapter for one week.

Mercy

Friday night I refereed at two high school girls soccer matches.

Both were Catholic high schools (not that it has anything to do with this).

One team is experienced, the other is playing its first season. In fact, this was their first game ever.

The Junior Varsity game ended at half 10-0. The Varsity game ended at half 10-0. The more experienced team won both games. This was due to the Mercy Rule: You have to play at least a half and the winning team has to be up by 10 (or more) goals.

In youth soccer there is no mercy rule. You take the licking. Not a lot of fun sometimes for anyone. I've seen teams run up the score on an over matched opponent and then have the coach justify it by saying it was done to them in a previous season by some other team.

It was obvious from the first few minutes of the JV game to everyone involved what the outcome was going to be of both games.

But as the Referee of the JV game I had to make sure that I worked harder than anyone else on the field to stay involved in the game and to call the game in a fair manner. Regardless of the outcome, it is important to someone on the field.

And I owe it to them to give it my best.

But I have to admit: it was nice to be done early...