7 July

Wha . . . ? Back to back days of posting? What is this, 2005?

Anyway, I had a few more things that I felt like sharing today.

1. Sunday night I preached about people who tend to over-spiritualize their decisions, constantly stating things like "God opened this door for me." I suggested that we should be incredibly careful of trying to force God's hand, giving His endorsements to our decision. Anyway, I came across this cartoon that doesn't exactly speak to my point, but it's hilarious nonetheless.

2. Our city is facing a huge budget crisis. Just this past week two people were killed in a drug deal gone bad in my neighborhood. I'm thinking that honoring MJ is the last thing that our city council needs to do right now.

3. Kaelyn is taking swimming lessons right now. No, she's not really learning to swim, but she's inherited her mother's love of the pool and we're making good use of the benefit of having a community one nearby. Kaelyn, however, is afraid of the boy lifeguards, crying whenever they teach. While this is disappointing, I'd say it'll bode well that she's not yet enamored with boys.

4. Another huge problem in our community, as is all over our country, is absentee fatherism. It was definitely tragic that former NFL quarterback Steve McNair was killed this past week, but sports writer Jason Whitlock says the thing that most of us our afraid to say: the true victims were McNair's sons.

5. Reciprocating the blog love, my friend Dan and I are working on developing a new Architreks tour for Walnut Hills. Who am I kidding? He's developing it, doing all the deep research, and I'm just a sidekick. Still, he's done a great job lately advocating my 'hood, and you should check out some of his latest posts.

6. The Reds lost 22-1 last night. Yes, this is depressing, but this is also baseball not the BCS; there are no weighted victories. The team went out there tonight, broke a tie in the 8th inning, and picked up the 4-3 win. At the end of the year, losing a game by 21 runs is no different than losing by 1.

7. So I've been reading this blog for a few months now. This guy is doing a rehab of an old house off Harrison Avenue on the westside of town. He makes some incredibly persuasive points about Cincinnati's lack of vision concerning abandoned houses; they usually bulldoze them, leaving empty lots. It is pretty ridiculous considering . . .

8. . . . this article and these pictures about the abandoning of the suburban landscape. No, this isn't the end of the 'burbs, but it will be amazing to see what our country's definition of housing is in another ten years.

9. It's been too long since I've linked to this. Trust me, turn down your volume if you're at work.

10. Tomorrow we'll hit the once a century moment where the clock/calendar will hit 12:34:56 on 07/08/09. Go ahead and live that second up.

6 July

Now I'm back.

It's been a crazy couple of weeks, jumping from my grandmother's funeral to my friend Larry's wedding. Larry and Kristen got married in Branson, Missouri. Aaron and I rented a car, left at 7am Friday morning and drove the 9.5 hours to get there. Within a couple of hours of arriving, we had the rehearsal. Not much time to check out the Branson scene because the wedding was the next afternoon. Then, after the reception, we got back in our car and drove through the night (hit an opossum and almost hit an unknown werewolf creature) making it home by 7am Sunday morning— a blur of 48 hours.

Anyway, I'm experiencing a travel hangover but thought I would run down some items of interest.

1. Fireworks are interesting. Since we drove through the night on July 4th we witnessed firsthand many redneck usages of pyrotechnics, including someone who thought it would be a good idea to set them off next a gas station. FYI, the urban celebration of the holiday lasts much longer; I guarantee I'll hear fireworks throughout the week.

2. Not only did I perform Larry and Kristen's wedding ceremony but I went Adam Sandler/Wedding Singer at the reception. Of course, Bon Jovi supplied the soundtrack.

3. The final trip related note: Missouri's interstate system sucks.

4. So, yeah, Michael Jackson died. In the past I probably would've devoted an entire post to the topic, but I just didn't feel like it. It's truly sad that it took death to transform him from societal pariah back to musical legend. It's also sad that he's worth more dead than alive. Now begins the parade of those who will capitalize on his death, including legions of people who will claim to have always have been fans.

6. We have new neighbors on each side of us. After almost four years of living here we are finally feeling completely settled but all the people we've met keep transitioning out. Such is city life.

7. When will people learn never to mention the accomplishments of Hitler? It is never helpful, so don't be like this guy and avoid mentioning it at all costs. No, not every one of Hitler's acts were evil, but after attempting to systematically eliminate and entire race of people all his other exploits, even if positive, are overshadowed. I'm sure this isn't the first time "big misunderstanding" has been used to defend positive Hitler comments [a little web search yielded this, and this and this] nor will it be the last.

8. Crossroads Church just started a sermon series entitled, "We Love Cincinnati." If you're a local, I hope you can agree. The messages are/will be available online. It also makes me feel good about Echo Church, because I know are folks have been living this out as well. In case you're wondering, our new teaching series is from the Old Testament books of Jonah and Nahum. Both books deal with the Assyrians, whose army is considered one of the most diabolical in human history. I'm calling it, "An Assyrian Summer." Here's our introduction slide, definitely worth a look.

9. Kaelyn's getting older. This is no secret, but she just continues to show it. Today she was constantly singing various songs she's learned while better articulating the words. No preschool next year, as she's still under my tutelage.

10. Not sure if you've heard of The Holy Land Experience, a theme park in Orlando dedicated to the Christian Biblical story. Apparently, it's actually registered as a church giving it a huge tax break. As a result, the park is supposed to allow free admission one day per year. The catch: the owners are secretive about letting the public know this date. Sneaky, sneaky, people. I actually think it's unethical for them to operate as a church. If you're going to be in a for-profit business as a Christian, you shouldn't expect the government to give you competitive advantages because of your faith.

11. Firefox Verson 3.5 is now open. There are a lot of good features, and one you should be careful of using. There's a privacy mode that, when enabled, keeps all your browsing secret. So if you're looking at sites you don't want other people to see [do I need to spell this out: P-0-R-N] no one else will need to know. While there could be other useful reasons for using this feature [ex: checking email on someone else's computer] it's still a good rule of thumb is never to mess with your history settings. Keep your integrity in tact and steer clear from private browsing. Nothing is ever truly secret, anyway.

12. Still knocking out my summer to-do list. Almost finished the first website redesign, so I thought I'd let you take a look. This will be the official Walnut Hills website. It's nothing special and still under construction, but feel free to leave me some feedback: www.walnuthills.us.

About Grandma

My Grandmother died last Friday.

It's been a bizarre week dealing with this reality. It was not entirely unexpected; she had congestive heart failure and has been deteriorating throughout the past year. She had also been struggling with dementia the past few years, not knowing exactly who I was for almost a year now. I saw her a few Wednesdays ago and when I next saw her, one week later, she had lost almost twenty pounds. I knew as I left her then, kissing her on the forehead, that this would be the last time I saw her. She passed away in her sleep early Friday morning.

These times are difficult for anyone but I then transition into "pastor mode." I knew I would be conducting the funeral, so I begin to assess what needs to be said. This is always a challenge, as it becomes my duty not only to summarize the life of a person who means much to me, but to do her memory justice to the rest of my family as well. This is why it's difficult to perform the funeral of a family member— you have to create some space to ensure that you can do your job. Fortunately, the memorial ceremony is Sunday, almost eight days after her passing, which has given me time to get this accomplished.

I suppose this is why I've been in a funk this week (duh). While I was extremely productive last week, I got very little accomplished since Friday. In addition to regular tasks, I've been putting together the slide presentation of my grandmother's life, as well as trying to craft the right words for the ceremony. Not arduous work, obviously, but my mind is working overtime. I'm so immersed in the situation that I don't deal with it.

My grandmother lived in the same house as us most of my childhood. She remarried when I was ten and it was two years later that my mom's parents moved in with us. So throughout the formative years of my life I always had grandparents around. I never knew how much of a blessing this was. They ate with us daily, took us places, and were practically second parents to us. Sure, it made the relationship a little more complicated than your average grandparent/grandchild relationship (we were never spoiled by our grandparents because they always saw us) but it is an experience I would never give back.

And, finally, I'm facing the fact that all of my grandparents are now gone. While many reading this might already have this situation (with some friends my age already having lost their parents) this is new to me. My mind wonders towards future losses and what the future holds.

All in all, it's a fascinating intersection of life, death, my psyche, and my vocation. I'm mourning, but I also need to lead people out of mourning to celebration of the life that was lived.

And the final blessing her is that my grandmother made the most of her existence, making my job much easier. So while she helped me throughout my life, she's still helping me when she's gone.

Don't P*** On the 'Nati

I know quite a few people that read the blog live here in Cincinnati, many in the suburban parts of town. Still, you've tolerated the past four years of my pro-city polemic, listening to me laud the benefits of Cincinnati on a constant basis. So as not to disappoint, I felt it was necessary for me to at least use this space to comment on the recent study naming OTR [a nearby Cincinnati community] the most dangerous neighborhood in America.

My verdict: this is the dumbest thing I have perhaps ever read.

I wish I had more time to deconstruct this article [although you can find some good efforts here, here, and here], but it is flawed beyond belief. All over talk radio and local media people are relying on the claim that "the numbers don't lie." But it is not the numbers lying, rather that the math is an absolute failure. A study is only as good as the academic integrity upon which it stands. There is an inconsistency in number crunching here that should be criticized and yet the media here in Cincinnati is too lazy to do that work.

Why wouldn't the local media try to refute this? Because it enables the stereotyping and demonization of the city that many in the suburbs eat for breakfast— feeding the "thank God I don't live there" mentality. This bad news is what sells, so the local press will avert their eyes to the truth and focus on the money. It's truly sad that many residents of the Greater Cincinnati area, those who would have nothing apart from the past 200+ years of our city's existence, choose to ABUSE IT and PILLAGE ITS ASSETS rather than acknowledge it as a blessing. Is this city perfect? By no means. But are there people here worth fighting for? Without a doubt.

If you care to disagree with me and are falling for this "study" hook, line, and sinker, I would suggest a wager: I will stand out on a street corner in Over-the-Rhine at night and you can stand out on a corner of my choosing in another major metropolitan area [currently, I'm leaning towards some neighborhoods in urban Detroit]. We'll see who fares better. I suspect I'd live to tell about it.

Look, I'm not saying OTR is the safest place to be, but it is improving. Over the past four years I've met scores of people in tough neighborhoods throughout our city who are trying to make their communities safer. It does a major disservice to their commitment to allow a ridiculous statement like this to stand unprotested.

Finally, if you can't stomach my rhetoric, let me give a personal example. Numerous times this past year my wife and daughter have ventured into this "worst neighborhood" without me. In the midst of this "warzone" is Findlay Market, one of our city's best treasures. As they were there, I did not fear for their safety but was grateful to live in a city where they could have such a unique experience. And I'm sure they'll go back again soon. I wouldn't put my family in harm's way. I wouldn't let my family venture into the worst neighborhood in America without me.

Just because you don't live here doesn't mean you have to hate it.

Open Letter to a Car Thief

Good morning!

I hope you slept well last night, but I'm sure you lost a little sleep when you were up at 2am trying to break into my car. I should've let you know earlier that my driver's side door lock is broken. So even though it's actually open, enabling you to access my Explorer by just opening the door, the alarm is actually on. That's why while you thought you were being sneaky, my rather obnoxious horn started blaring at you. Too bad you weren't actually able to take anything in the excitement. You did succeed at getting me out of bed, but I was pretty ticked so I wouldn't have been to congenial in my introduction if we had met.

Actually, the main reason for my correspondence it so ask: what were you trying to take? A couple of years ago I learned the hard way by leaving some church equipment in the back of the Explorer where someone performed a smash and grab. Through that experience, I paid my "dumb tax" and learned that you never leave anything of value in your car overnight— ever.

Since you might be thoroughly disappointed this morning, thinking of what you might have taken from my car, I've decided to give you an itemized list of what was up for grabs. For your convenience, I've added the approximate street value to the items so you can see your potential losses.

Child's Car Seat
Condition: New.
Notes: By far, the most valuable thing you could've scored
Approximate Street Value: $10.00

Baby Stroller
Condition: Slightly Used.
Notes: Just too bulky for you to carry away. You want take this.
Approximate Street Value: $8.00

Soccer Cleats
Condition: Used.
Notes: They're just a junk Nike pair I purchased at Play-It-Again Sports I leave in my car just in case.
Approximate Street Value: $3.00

7-Iron
Condition: Used
Notes: Just in case I want to hit a couple practice balls.
Approximate Street Value: $4.00

Stuffed Ducky
Condition: Slightly Used
Notes: My daughters' companion for our road trips.
Approximate Street Value: $1.00

Car Air Filter
Condition: New
Notes: Only fits 1996-2001 Ford Trucks.
Approximate Street Value: $4.00

Restaurant Napkins
Condition: New.
Notes: In the glove compartment in case there's a mess.
Approximate Street Value: $0.00

Beyond my stereo** there's honestly nothing left in there worth taking. I guess you could've stolen the vehicle itself, but that makes no sense; it is, by far, the least desirable car in our parking lot. So the whole take would've netted you $30.00. Is $30 worth the possibility of getting caught and imprisoned (not that we have any room in our jails to keep you)? When I ask that, I assume that this wasn't your first attempt at theft and that they would find other stuff on you as well.

And if it was, by chance, your first attempt at breaking into cars, I'd say you're off to a bad start; you're clearly no good at this. Might I suggest some other method of fleecing the general public, such as TV weatherman?

In closing, thanks for nothing. Now I'll be tired all day and both of us leave this experience empty-handed.

Sincerely,
Steve Carr

___________________
*If, by some chance, it was you who broke into my car a couple years back, then I am grateful that you didn't break any windows this time. But, seriously, aren't there other cars that are more likely to have better stuff in them?

**It's my understanding that not many thieves try to steal factory installed ones. I'm not sure the 1999 Ford Explorer stereo has any street value, hence, it was not included on the list.

A Word to the Wise

Just a thought . . .

This morning I read an article written by a PhD discussing the psychological nuances surrounding how children learn; his column included how kids should properly be reared through various childhood situations. As I read the article I laughed to myself thinking that the person's analysis was off-base and somewhat subjective. Still, the author wrote as if he/she were an expert so I read on until the end.

It was at the conclusion of the article that I discovered the person's academic credentials: their doctorate was in theology. I'm not saying a theology degree is worthless [cough, cough] but it is somewhat disingenuous to speak as if you're an authority on a topic when you're merely a hack.*

This made me think about the voices to which we listen. Apparently this PhD has quite a following— there are people who lap up his/her opinions like a thirsty dog in the middle of summer— even though he/she is frequently misguided. This reading experience leads me to offer two observations for you.

1. Not everyone is an expert on everything Just because someone SPEAKS authoritatively doesn't mean that they ARE an authority. When you read a column or listen to a personality, there's a good chance that they have absolutely no significant knowledge about what they're talking about. Sure, there are people who know a little about a lot [Steve raises his hand], but I'd rather hear from those who know a lot about a little. As someone whose expertise is rather small, I try to know the limitations on my experience and knowledge. I'll offer up my opinion freely, but I watch myself so that I don't claim that they're anything more than opinions.

By the way, this is why you should beware of only reading books by certain authors or listening to certain speakers. A little diversity in your diet will do you well.

Still, there is another point that we need to grasp:

2. Not no one isn't an expert on nothing I'm sure my more grammatically-minded readers just stopped reading this post but for those left behind, stick with me. My point is that there is knowledge in our world that can be obtained. There are people out there who have devoted lifetimes studying certain subjects. Sure, there is always a subjective element to each person's epistemology [that's not a cuss word], but you cannot dismiss it altogether. I know some highly skeptical people who refuse to listen to anyone other than themselves because they're deconstructionist. I don't want to go all philosophical/X-Files here, but the truth IS out there. We should be on the lookout for wisdom wherever it might be.

Of course, I guess you could dismiss the whole post as coming from someone who has no idea what he's talking about.

Do as you must.

__________

*I should say, in case you're wondering, that the PhD was not expounding the biblical method of child rearing but was spouting off pop psychology, so he/she was way outside of his/her expertise.

11 June

A collection of links, personal tales, and such:

• Attention Facebookers and Twits [or whatever they call those who use Twitter]. This article is probably talking about you.
• A lady who was late to the airport and missed being on board the doomed Air France from Brazil was killed the next week in a car accident. <insert your own observation as neccessary>
• I am all over Manchester Orchestra right now, and not because the band name sounds like Manchester United. Speaking of international football, Real Madrid is spending like they won the Powerball.
• According to a blog I frequent, the way I preach at Echo would not be acceptable in a Catholic Mass. To be fair, I'm sure the whole "me not being Catholic" wouldn't be acceptible there either. I understand the objection that you don't want to make worship service into a classroom but, to many people, learning more about God IS an act of worship. And it's hard for me to imagine the downside to getting people to know more about the Bible.
• Kelly's iBook decided to die this week. Logic board failure. I was stoked because, even though it was a brick, I was get it to boot up by shoving some quarters under the keyboard. I . . . AM . . . McGRUBER!
• I'm focused this summer on fixing up our condo. Since the housing bubble has burst, we've decided that we'll be in our place for longer than we originally imagined. So since we're here, we have to fix up the cheap paint job on our joint. We'll just slap up the same color, but use a better brand of paint. We're just getting started and Kaelyn already likes the concept of spackling.
• Additionally, we're finally committed to filling the empty wall space. I designed some art pieces that we were able to print out online onto canvases. I made three pieces to hang on our tall wall between our two lower floors. I took some pictures of local landmarks and made them look "artsy." They turned out really well and I finally hung them this afternoon using a ladder on our kitchen table. Stop by if you want to see them sometime, or you can check them out here.
• In a related note, the fact that $75,000 was spent to develop a new logo for our city is ridiculous. Fortunately tax-payer money was not spent on the project, but this is still absurd. If they were smart, they would've made it a contest and given a $1,000 prize to the winner. In today's world, you shouldn't have to pay that much for something so lack-luster.
• And speaking of design, my friend and tech advisor Brian got all my new web domains set up so now I can start knocking out some of my website designing.
• The advantages to having a DVR and cable stations you rarely watch? MTV2 is showing episodes of The State at 2am.
• Best commercial song right now: the group in a cab singing Biz Markie. "Oh baby you . . . " [I had no idea it was Heineken commercial. Again, when I pay no attention to your product placement, how effective is it?]
• I have a lot of pots on the fire right now. It's very . . . interesting.

More later.

Still Content

When I was thinking about a title for this post, I figured "Contentment" would be a good summary. Then I realized that I just wrote a blog post with that title back in March.

I guess I've been thinking a lot about contentment this year.

Just this past Sunday I concluded my sermon from Paul's letter to the Philippians where he offers,

I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.

Paul unveils this secret in the next verse:

I can do everything through [God] who gives me strength.

They say that you can always tell what a minister is struggling with by what he preaches, so you might assume that I'm haven't a hard time with contentment right now. But that's not the case.

Actually, I'm more content than I've ever been. But even when you're content, you must constantly remind yourself of it. Otherwise, you may begin to replace the ultimate source of contentment [read: God] with other things. And almost always, the replacement is detrimental to our ultimate contentment.

Yesterday I read about another high-profile minister who had an affair. This guy had a national audience who was held captive by his every word; he was seen as the measure of success. And yet this wasn't enough to make him content— he had to have more. Unfortunately, the result of his drive cost him his job, perhaps will cause Christians to lose faith in the church, and will be a scar on his family life the rest of his life.

I'm not saying this to kick a guy when he's down, as he's obviously not the only person this has happened to. Examine any recent major scandal [Berlusconi, Madoff, steroids] and you discover that it's usually the result of someone trying to manufacture contentment. It would be foolish for us not to heed these examples as a warning in our own lives.

Ask yourself what you're chasing in this world and why. It might seem antithetical to the American dream, but maybe you need to find a pace where you can just be happy with what you've got.

By the way, it's things like this that make it easier for me to maintain my level of contentment.

All Talk

I have these ideas, see. Lots of ideas.

But they don't always come to fruition. For instance, about three years ago I had this idea about a Tetris book. Unfortunately, they owners of the franchise didn't see the vision. But that don't stop me [grammatical mistake intended] as I'll keep the ideas a comin'.

My problem is that I sometimes view these ideas as long-term projects and, every once in awhile, someone else beats me to the punch.

Case in point: I read today about a new documentary entitled Google Me. The creator Googled himself, making a list of people who share his name so he could interview them; it supposed to be a journey of discovery. Nice idea.

I swear, I had it first.

But since I'm not a film-maker, my idea revolved around a book with the same premise. I had a bookmark folder in my web browser with a collection of other Steve Carr's around the globe [the soccer player, the movie producer, and the atheist are a few examples] for awhile. Occasionally, when I was board, I'd search deeper in my Google searches so I could identify better candidates to interview.

You might counter that it was my apathy that kept it from actually happening. I offer that it's just not the kind of book someone would pay me to do without a successful track record. And since I haven't had a lot of down time, it was one of those shelved ideas. I guess I can de-shelve this one.

So there's another idea that I missed out on. But the well's not dry, as I've got plenty of other ideas. Feel free to offer up those ideas you had that would've made you rich.

I won't be losing sleep about it.

Don't Say Anything!

I'm not exactly sure when it happened— most likely, sometime in the last week or so:

We have now reached the point where we cannot have adult conversations in front of Kaelyn.

During the last 40 months of parenting much about our lives has changed. But one thing that wasn't affected was our ability to openly talk freely in front of the little girl. I could rant about anything, indict anyone, and even freely offer up borderline words while driving and she'd be oblivious. It was a good life.

Sometime last week I said something under my breath [for the life of me, I can't remember what but it was definitely PG, if not PG-13 (at the very least it wasn't Disney material)] and Kaelyn repeated it verbatim. Apparently this wasn't an aberration as tonight, while Kaelyn was with us in the kitchen, I told Kelly I was going to give her some potato chips. Kelly, in a low voice, responded, "don't say anything about that because she doesn't need it." Although she missed my earlier mention about the chips, Kaelyn heard everything her mother said and repeated, "Daddy, don't say anything!"

It's all different now.

Sure, we'll continue to spell out words in order to throw her off the scent, but at the rate she's learning her letters we might not have much longer until I'll have to learn sign language.

I guess I'll actually have to start watching what I say. Perhaps this discipline will benefit my life in other ways as well.

27 May

'Bout time for an update. I thought I was up for some more frequent blogging, but a vacation got in the way.

Yeah, we were on vacation last week and didn't blog/Facebook/Twitter about it. I don't want people knowing what I'm doing all the time anyway. Kelly posted a synopsis of our getaway here. Much thanks to my in-laws who watched Kaelyn while we were gone so we could celebrate our 10th anniversary [um, one year late].

I do have some more posts in the queue but, because I'm catching up from the short week, it'll take me a couple of days to get them out. Until then, chew on this:

1. Want to learn a little something about my neighborhood? Join me this weekend for a preview tour of Architreks in Walnut Hills. I've been a tour guide for Architreks for three years now and was thrilled when they said they were interested in doing a tour here. Find out all the information over at Dan's blog.

2. My summer to-do list is growing. Unfortunately, I have a lot of computer work to do, including the design and redesign of four websites. Oddly enough, I'm sorta excited about it.

3. Jade Kendall preached for me this weekend, becoming the first person outside of Echo to speak at our church. I love Jade and his ministry, as they're dedicated to my dad's old neighborhood. He's also teaching an urban ministry class this week at CCU. I'm meeting them in Walnut Hills tomorrow so they can observe our neighborhood. The class is eating at the local soup kitchen and then walking over to the church building where I'll tell them about our ministry. I'm really looking forward to it.

4. A couple of Sundays ago, we said bye to Tye. Tye VonAllmen has led worship at Echo since a few months after we started up. He's now on staff [along with his wife] up the street at Crossroads Church in Oakley. Since his schedule is now so packed, he's stepped down as our regular guy. Fortunately, Tye'll be back every once in awhile to fill in for us. In addition to their weekend appearances at Crossroads, you can always catch Tye and Andrea playing around town.

5. Random thought: the movie Drag Me To Hell looks like the absolute dumbest plot for a horror movie ever. Loan officer who refuses mortgage extension is cursed by witch? Sadly, it will gross millions this weekend.

6. Picked up my diploma at Xavier yesterday. I'm now officially finished there. I'm still trying to figure out how to get those ridiculous parking passes of my windshield.

7. How 'bout those Reds? This could be a very fun summer. Even though I could tell you all about their play this year I have yet to see a game in person. Even though it's only a half-hour walk to the stadium, I enjoy being able to watch the game on TV while getting some work done.

8. Keeping with the sports theme, how hilarious will it be when Denver and Orlando play each other in the NBA Finals? Not exactly the Kobe-Lebron final that everyone wanted.

9. One last sports comment, I was thoroughly disappointed that Manchester United lost to Barcelona in the Champion's League Final this afternoon. Even when they were down two goals with ten minutes left I thought they could win it [they did it in '99].

10. Today was Kaelyn/Daddy day in the Carr house. It's usually a wonderful time of daddy and daughter bonding. Unfortunately, today Kaelyn cut her own hair with her new kiddie scissors, face planted into the sidewalk roughing up her chin, and fell getting out of the Explorer hitting face first into the grass. And somehow, she was absolutely wonderful all day. These are the days I'm glad that she won't remember anything that happens before her fifth birthday.

Fin.

X'd Off My List

I graduated from Xavier today.

Didn't go to the commencement ceremony, though. I've been there and done that and had no desire to do that again. The Xavier registrar called me yesterday afternoon to tell me I could walk and I said I wasn't. She sounded disappointed. I hope she gets over it.

Yesterday afternoon I had my thesis defense. It went very well. The professor in whose class I received my worst grade was one of the readers. The first words out of her mouth were that mine was the most compelling paper she's read since she's been at Xavier. That made me feel good [and vindicated?]. All the readers suggest that it should be eventually published and perhaps the topic of a dissertation. Again, I felt very good. Sometime this summer, I'll post the summary of what I wrote about on the blog.

Overall, my experience at Xavier has been quite positive. One of the main reasons I went to school there was to be challenged— both academically and philosophically. I've emerged from the other side emboldened, better prepared to do the work set before me. I interacted with a diverse collection of views and individuals and appreciate what it's meant to me.

Thanks to all for the encouragement you've given me throughout this experience. And a shout-out to my brother-in-law Josh who received his Masters degree this weekend as well.

So now, a little breather, then back for more this summer. As I said earlier, I'm returning to Cincinnati Bible Seminary to begin work on yet another Masters Degree [I figure third time's a charm]; this time, I'll be exploring Church History. Never thought I'd be going this far in academics, but I feel like I'm hitting my stride. And I love being an adjunct professor, so the more education, the better opportunities I'll have to keep teaching. In the immortal words of Billy Madison, "Back to school. Back to school, to prove to Dad that I'm not a fool. I got my lunch packed up, my boots tied tight, I hope I don't get in a fight"

Preferring Bats in the Belfry

Here's a follow-up post to yesterday's pandering for someone to buy Echo a school building.

When I was a child, our church met in an old building on the corner of Price and Grand Avenue in Price Hill. The Westminster Presbyterian Church sold the building to Cincinnati Bible Seminary [now Cincinnati Christian University] in the 1940's for use as a chapel. This purchase allowed for a new church to be started in it: the Price Avenue Church of Christ. Once the college built their own multi-purpose facility, they gifted the building to the church. Unfortunately, the building was not properly maintained and the church couldn't afford the upkeep on the facility, so it was razed. Here's a picture I found online from the Cincinnati Public Library:

I loved that old building. We [the people of the church] actually tore it down by hand; our family spent every Friday night there for years doing demolition. I believe it was finally leveled in 1988, nearly 100 years after it was constructed. That was, for me, the end of an era in worship.

After the uniqueness of that century old building, the rest of my church-going was unspectacular. The rest of my church attendance throughout my childhood took place in a bland annex building constructed on the plot east of the old building. While in college, the chapel services I'd occasionally attend occurred in a gymnasium. My first ministry was at a church whose building resembled a UFO [use Google Street View for full effect]. Our next church was a boring 1970's sanctuary originally built for Jehovah's Witnesses. And the inside of my last church's building could easily be mistaken for a convention center. All these buildings were functional, but far from impressive.

Hence, my current love for the building Echo rents— pictured above, it's over 80 years old, filled with beautiful woodwork and stained-glass. Overall, it has a certain character that I hadn't enjoyed since my youth attending church in Price Hill. I used to think my affinity towards the building was only about my personal taste, but it might more indicative of the trend in our country.

A recent Southern Baptist survey discovered that people who don't go to church prefer older, "churchy" buildings to more contemporary looking ones. To be fair, this wasn't an exact survey, as it asked opinions about aesthetics. Regardless of the legitimacy of this sampling, I do think the message to be true. And I think it has something to say about Americans' conceptions of church.

First, these older sanctuaries immediately convey a link to the past; it gives people a sense that this faith has roots. I'd propose that people of "my generation" are not quite as enamored with the newness concept in architecture as previous ones were. Sure, you might have a bookstore and a coffee bar, but can the new structure offer history?

Along those same lines, I'd say that older church buildings, especially those that pre-date World War 2, are a unique experience for Americans. This isn't Europe where ancient cathedrals abound. Walking into an older church building separates the worshipper from our fast-paced society. These buildings were built before air-conditioning, before television. Heck, the church we rent has fewer bathrooms than some houses. It's not normal, and sometimes a departure from normalcy helps us clear our minds.

One of the benefits of doing ministry in the city is access to these old churches. Fortunately, it seems that more people actually prefer them. We're just trying to take advantage of it.

If You Want To . . .

I have all these dreams about ministry in Walnut Hills. Since we're on a thirty year plan, I don't get "over-visionary" about things we HAVE TO do right now. I like to think that God provides in response to our faithfulness— so our job is to be patient and trust that God will give us what we need. The timing thing shouldn't be rushed.

One of those dreams I have is for a permanent facility to call our own. I know it'll eventually happen, so I try not to worry about it.

That said, perhaps God will use someone else to assist us on this journey. For example (off the top of my head), in the second week of June, Cincinnati Public Schools is auctioning off the old Windsor School* in our neighborhood. It's a gorgeous structure that needs to be used for something positive— why not a church/community outreach center?

So if you're feeling a little generous (perhaps even a tad guilty— with the kind of guilt only a significant financial donation could resolve), you could go ahead and buy the building and gift it to Echo Church. I'm sure it'll cost less than $500,000. And I bet they'll even take a personal check. We'd gladly name one of the bathrooms after you.

I'll clear all lines waiting for a response . . .

. . . waiting VERY patiently, that is.

UPDATE: I recently learned that the roof of the older part of the school is in horrible shape. The cost of repair would be so ridiculously high that you'd have to raze the whole complex. Too sad that such a beautiful structure wasn't properly maintained.

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*Dan has some brief information on the facility at the bottom of this page if you're interested.

Who's The Baby?

I really don't care for the Celtics. Yeah, I liked Larry Bird and appreciate what Bill Russell was able to accomplish, but the old Garden is gone and Kevin Garnett annoys me.

So when Glen Davis (a.k.a. Big Baby) hit that dagger to beat the Orlando Magic the other night, I was disappointed; the sooner the Celtics are out of the play-offs, the better, I say. However, the lingering moment of that incident was, after hitting the shot, when an exuberant Big Baby accidentally knocked the hat off a teenager as he ran back up the court. You really have to see the video to understand this. The kid was seated right next to the Magic's bench on the sideline. And in order to see better, the kid was less than a foot away from the line so, when Davis avoided knocking into a ref, inadvertently made contact with the kid.

No harm, no foul, eh?

Apparently not, because kid's father had to be "that guy" and demanded Davis and the NBA apologize for the contact. My sympathy is non-existent here for numerous reasons:

1. The kid was practically one foot off the court, closer than many coaches or players stand. His position opened him up to getting touched. He should be thankful it wasn't Shaq barrelling down the court.

2. The actual contact was minimal. Yeah, it was enough to knock the kid's hat off, but you get more contact than that making your way to the nacho line.

3. It wasn't as if it was a toddler getting plowed over. This kid is probably bigger than I am.

4. The kid's dad has to be loaded; you can't sit that closely to the sideline in an NBA play-off game without mucho dinero. Am I supposed to feel bad for a kid who has better seats than many of the bench players?

No apology is needed here. No matter how much I dislike the Celtics, I declare that Davis did nothing wrong. Anyway, that's not even why I brought all this up.

What really set me off was the language that the kid's father used in order to make this demand. Davis, the kid's father claimed, was acting like a "raging animal with no regard for fans' personal safety."

Now I'm not Al Sharpton, but that's downright racist.

You might say I'm being incendiary by calling this, but I can't avoid seeing it. Throughout our country's history, the common degradation of the black male is that he is nothing more than an uncontrollable animal. This is the rhetoric that was used to prevent African Americans from home ownership, employment, voting, and even freedom. Making a connection to Davis' euphoria to animalism is ridiculously irresponsible. Is this kid's dad a racist? I have no idea. But that is indeed a racist statement. It goes to show us that even electing a black president isn't enough to cure our country's race issues.

I know some of you might be turned off at my pointing this out, but living for almost four years in a predominantly black neighborhood should make me more aware of this kind of thing. Do not be deceived: language is powerful. Even if it's a simplistic "those people," it testifies to how we view the world. We all have issues with people, but having issues with peoples is out of line.

Dumb can be forgiven. Prejudice needs to be purged.

UPDATE: Apparently the father finally realized how amazingly ridiculous he reacted and apologized.

My Moms

The longer I live, the more I appreciate the role that mothers play in this world.

No matter how hard I try, if it comes down to me or Kelly, Kaelyn is going to want her mommy. There's a certain nurturing aspect that I will never obtain that is inherent in mothers. It has to be a gift from God in exchange for the whole pregnancy/childbirth thing.

Mother's Day is always an excellent opportunity for me to reflect on the wonder mothers in my life:

My mother who is absolutely amazing and one of the most godly women I've ever known

My grandmothers who were nothing alike but who created the family structures from which I benefited.

My mother-in-law who is ceaselessly giving and constantly blesses our family even from far away.

My wife who is the perfect mother and example for our daughter who will one day [WAY in the future] be a mother herself.

To all the mothers in my life and all those reading, thanks for your most valuable ministry.

Happy Mother's Day!

The Tweet and The Cross

Still not a Twitter fan, nor am I a follower.*

I came across this Time article about how many churches have begun incorporating Twitter into their worship services. It's not necessarily a unique concept, as churches have been doing the same thing with text messages for a couple of years now. But what I wonder is, why even invite this into church in the first place?

The person obsessed with contextualizing the old, old story to a fast paced world will insist it is critical that we acknowledge the way in which our world communicates. But as the article I linked to a couple of weeks ago displayed,** does Twitter actually promote the kind of communication that the church should truly want? And more than Twitter itself, I think this comes down to an understanding of church worship.

Despite the way that many media conglomerations and companies have recently taken advantage of Twitter, it is a platform the elevates the individual for the world to see. Juxtapose that with the church, a word that means "assembly" or "community," and worlds collide.

You might already be thinking that there is much in the church, especially in the worship service, that accentuates the individual. This might be true, but it should not be. The point of corporate (communal) worship should be: NO ME, MORE WE, ALL FOR HE. When Christians gather together to praise God, we do so with united voices, not with a singular voice. Music should be sung together, prayer should be offered together, communion should be taken together, and the exploration of God's word should done together. Even though the community is sometimes represented by singular voices in these instances, they should be mindful to be representative of the entire church.

At Echo, we've been studying through the book of 1 Corinthians and one of the primary issues that plagued that church is that they had a community full of people who wanted their voices to be heard. They brought a "me" mentality into worship where they would literally outshout other worshippers. As Paul tells them, not everyone's voice should be heard during worship; we all have different gifts, some more upfront than others. The worship service is not the place for inclusiveness and individual expression. This might not seem very postmodern, but it is biblical.***

The one quote from the article I found disturbing was the following direction from the pulpit: "if God leads you to continue [to Tweet] as a form of worship by all means do it." Call me cynical, but when I read that, I can't avoid hearing, "you do whatever makes you happy and it's good with God." And maybe it really is, but is it really what's good for the community.

Corporate worship should symphonically combine voices instead of distinguishing them. Rather than hiding in our hi-tech world, we need to deprogram ourselves in order to emerge from our technological burrows. Where else do we have such an opportunity to allow people to disconnect from their grid?

Text and tweet if you must, but turn off the cell phone in church.

__________

*It might seem that I have declared war on Twitter. It's really not the case. Tweet yourself to death and have a great time.

**My favorite pull quote from that article: "The broadcasting of the spectacle of the self has become a full-time job."

***Aaron preached on this text at Echo last week. Unfortunately, we didn't get it recorded. If you want the text, you could always email him and ask him for it.

Turn The Page

My parent's house sits on quite a bit of wooded land; connected with all the neighbors' properties, it made a virtual wilderness. With all those trees, wandering through the woods was always a difficult trek. But then you'd come to an open field and you were relieved because you knew you could walk across with ease.

Lately, I feel like I've been wandering through the deep woods but there's finally a clearing ahead. And there's a smile on my face.

Starting in the summer of 2007 I've been pushing through academic endeavors; since then, I've either been taking classes or teaching classes non-stop. I had my last class at Xavier last night and will finish my degree with a thesis defense next week. And I'm not teaching any classes this summer so I'll actually have a legitimate summer break. I'm very much looking forward to the next few months. I think I might actually read a few books that I feel like reading and there are some church projects and house projects that I'm going to tackle.

Something else I've realized (and you might have too) is that my blogging has become much more infrequent over the last 10 months or so. Since I've been doing a ton of writing for teaching and homework and sermons, I've felt a bit empty when it comes to writing here. And that's unfortunate because some of you who I hardly see anymore are able to stay better connected with our lives if I'm constantly posting. And Facebook just don't get it done.

Even though school's out for summer, I'm actually going to pick up the blogging again. Just posting this past week about my marathon prep reminded me that it's not as difficult as I imagine it might be.

So if you don't use an RSS reader and you've not been checking in with the House of Carr, I'll try to give you a reason to come around the neighborhood more regularly.

</breathe>

Finished

A very cool day for our city . . . and also for me.

Here's my play-by-play if you're needing something to put you to sleep:

I woke up at 5am hearing rain outside. At the time, it didn't phase me because I was feeling good. I slept well the past couple of nights and was almost giddy about the race. I kissed Kelly good-bye and headed downtown. Found a parking place on 4th Street near Central Avenue where I played Solitaire on my iPod Touch. I [purposely] locked my keys in the car and headed to the starting line about fifteen minutes before the race. As a result, I knew I'd be back in the pack, but thought that might help with spacing.

It didn't.

It was packed down; I think I heard there was about 14,000 people running this morning. It took me eleven minutes to get to the starting line . . . and then I got frustrated. For the first six miles, there was no room to move; twice during the first three miles I practically came to a complete stop. My 9-minute mile goal was suffering, so I tried to make some moves to make up time. I expended a lot of energy doing so [something I knew I shouldn't do] but I was feeling good and did so anyway. By the time I saw Kel and Kaelyn at the entrance to Eden Park (Paul, Carol, and Emily were there too) I got my pace back to 9-minutes.

I owned the Gilbert Avenue/Eden Park hill [as I should have in my own backyard] and made up some serious time out of East Walnut Hills through Hyde Park. I handled the trek through Fairfax and Mariemont well, meeting Kelly and Kaelyn there. Leaving back through Fairfax, passing the Frisch's Mainliner off Wooster Pike was my mini-wall. But the sight of people walking on the side [despite the fact that they had earlier passed me up] kept my going. My pace slowed a bit in the East End through Columbia-Tusculum, but when I hit the final five miles coming down Eastern Avenue [now gentrified Riverside Drive] I was feeling very good.

Until the very last mile.

I couldn't believe it, but I had nothing left in the tank at all. I'll be very interested to see, but I'm pretty sure it was the slowest mile I ran all day. All morning I had been doing math, making sure I was at a pace to do the four-hour run. I knew in that last mile I was getting close, but I briefly thought "hey, just over four-hours wouldn't be TOO bad." But as I saw Kaelyn and Kelly [with half-marathoners Dan and Angie] about two-tenths of a mile from the finish, I just pushed out everything that I had.

I finished my 26.2 miles in 3:58— just two minutes shy of four-hours. I wrote a few days ago that such a finish would make me "happy." I'd like to upgrade that to "very happy."

It was a great day, one I'll never forget. Let me give you some random observations:

• I love my family. Kelly and Kaelyn spent a lot of time in the car today just to see me for a few seconds at a time. Their patience and support during this training was critical to me being able to do this. I cannot say enough about how cool they are.
• I love this city. I know there were a lot of organizations that man different stations that use this as a fundraiser, but everyone is so great. And the many people throughout the course that aren't actually part of the race that hand out gummy bears and orange slices. It is very, very cool.
• In addition to the crowd at the start, I think the early rain might have played a part in going a little slower. My socks were wet early on and my feet aren't looking great right now. No excuses, though. I'm not sure I could've shaved off any more than ten additional minutes off my time.
• Never say never [even though I frequently do] but I'm not sure if I'll run a marathon for a long time. Shaving off minutes isn't a huge motivation for me. Doing the half-marathon next year is a definite possibility.
• Perhaps this is too much information, but I felt like I had to use the bathroom at mile 4. I never went the entire race. Felt like I needed to go when I crossed the finish line, but I didn't go for another hour after the race.
• I just saw a local TV personality up at the UDF in Mount Adams. He's a very good runner and he said the course felt slower out there today [he picked up 15 minutes on his finish from last year], so maybe there's something to it after all.
• I'm so thankful for all the encouragement people have given me in the past few months throughout today. From emails to phone calls, people have been very good to me. I love my life.
• This whole experience makes me respect people who have run marathons even more. And the advice that they have given me was truly valuable. Thanks Audrey and Alex and everyone else.
• And thanks for tolerating a week full of posts about this. I'm glad I'll have all this to reflect on later. And maybe now that I've done it, you might understand that anyone can do this.

By the way, Kelly took some pics from today that you can check out on her blog. She also shares how she and Kaelyn chased me down all morning.

One Day To Marathon

In less than twelve hours, I'll be running.

I'm more than ready.

I'd write more but I've tried to post this three times and failed so just the pertinent info.

If you want to track my progress tomorrow via email and text messenging, you can click here.

Thanks for all the encouraging words.

Next stop: starting line.