Book Report – The Jesus Creed by Scot McKnight

I’ve been wanting to read this book for some time. It has been setting beside my bed for over 6 months. I have finally got a chance to read it and I am glad I did. I’ve had a chance to read Scot McKnight’s book “Embracing Grace” about a year ago and it was a great read so I was really excited about getting into this one. I finish them book on my family vacation and it was a great way to finish it.

The idea of having a creed isn’t a new one for me but certainly wasn’t something I thought about much. I have to say this book has changed the way I think in many ways. I usually share two big take aways that I get from a book I’ve read but I’m adding to this report a very simple and practical application that I got also.

Big take away #1 – McKnight explains what the Jesus Creed is: “Jesus thereby amends the Shema of Judaism (Dt. 6:4-9) by adding Lev 19:18, revealing that spiritual formation is about the love of God and others.” When Jesus address a religious scholar in Mark 12:28-33 Jesus, as McKnight puts it, answers with this Creed: “The first in importance is, ‘Listen, Israel: The Lord your God is one; so love the Lord your god with all your passion and prayer and intelligence and energy.’ And here is the second: ‘Love others as well as you love yourself.’ There is no other commandment that ranks with these (Mark 12:29-31 MSG).” This is really more of a reinforcement than a new idea for me. I totally and complete agree that we are here on this earth to love God and to love others.

Big take away #2 – McKnight explains throughout the book what it means to be a spiritual formed person. The list that he put together is an excellent reference for me. I can see myself going back to this reference and McKnight’s book often as the Lord grows my spiritual formation. Here is that reference list:
“ A spiritually formed person:
- Loves God by following Jesus and loves others
- Embraces the stories of others who love Jesus
- Lives out kingdom values
- Loves Jesus
- Participates in the life of Jesus.”
This list seems so simple but it has a life time of uses for me.

The very simple and practical application that I am using is this:
1) I have started reading a chapter a day from the Bible (I started in I Thess.)
2) From that chapter I find at least one verse that stands out to me
3) I then write a short (one sentence to three sentence) explanation of why that verse stood out to me.
4) My goal is to take a ½ day ever 6 mths to look over all of my short explanations and see if I find some kind of common theme(s) in them.
5) I take that common theme(s) to help me plan my next set of books I read, what I study in the Bible, change my person quite times to contemplate this common theme(s) better, etc
6) Grow in my understand of how to love God and love others better.
I know this seems simple but for me, who needs things to be simple, I very excited about what God might do in my life while using this simple application.

Jesus Creed by Scot McKnight is an excellent book and I recommend to anyone to read it.

Spring Break is for family time

This was our first time to go on a spring break trip with just the family and not going to extended family. We love being with cousins and seeing my sister or brothers. We enjoy spending time with Lisa's family and being in Ohio. But this is a first for our family to just vacation together alone and it was well worth it.
We got to do things we love to do together. We started off on Thursday with caching around the Amana Colony, then it was off to the Wasserbahn Waterpark resort to play in the water until we almost fall asleep standing from all the fun we were having. We crashed about 10:30 pm but we were up by 8:30am to eat and get wet some more. Then off we go to cache again and find our 100th cache (YES!) and then finally we stopped at Coralridge Mall to play at the kids museum and soft play area. Great time, great fun, and exactly what the Eades family needed to do.

If you would like to see some pictures of our trip please click on the picture.

A good storage container for men

Just saw this item & really thought it could be a usefully way to hold a lot of different stuff. Click on the picture for more information. I've also placed a review from cool tools for you to see:

The Viewtainer is an inexpensive, flexible plastic tube with a rubbery cap at both ends. Originally, they were intended to hold small parts (screws, nuts, bolts, etc.). On one end the rubber cap has a slash in it, so when you squeeze the tube, you can dump the parts out. Although these Viewtainers may work well for storing parts, I've found that one of the larger Viewtainers, which is about 8" x 3", is an awesome mini-toolkit container that's easy to access and stash. It's amazing how many different useful (and in some cases, full-size) tools, you can fit into such a tiny container: screwdrivers, sockets, specialty bits, pliers, mini-saws, tire irons, flashlights, and on. I keep one in my car, one in my bike bag, and one in my study on the second floor so I don't have to run out to the garage every time I need a screwdriver.
-- Sam Mapadatha

Spring Break starts

Today is the offical first day of spring break for my family. It was also one of the warmest days so far this year. We took advatange of having Lindsey home and the warm weather to go out a do some geocaching. What fun! We were able to finish a mult-cache that we had started a few months ago and 3 other regular caches. It was great to be outside, the kids got some good stash, and we got a chance to really enjoy each other. If you would like to see a few pictures of our outing click on the picture.

Book Report – What Matters Most by Doug Fields

This book, What Matter Most, is a short read (I read it in 2-3 hours) but it has a lot to say and it will be a resource that I can see myself turn to often. Andy Stanley wrote the forward to it. He said, “My observation is that the men and women who attempt to maintain an unsustainable pace are rarely aware of it. It could be you. And if so, this might be one of the most important books you ever read.” I don’t think I’m a person trying to sustain and unsustainable pace but this book will be a tool to remind me not to do ever become one.

The two big takeaways that I got from Doug’s book:

1) I need to be willing to say “no to ministry” sometimes so I can say yes to ministry that matters most. “You’re essentially paid to say yes to ministry, right? Yes. Except that if you’re getting paid to do ministry, you’re also expected – no, required – to have depth in order to lead, love, and care for people. Depth requires investment in your inner world.” This reminds me of the directives our elders have given the staff to have monthly spiritual get aways.

2) The other was a discussion Doug had at his first youth ministry with his sr. pastor. The sr. pastor said, “I can never slow down because the Devil never slows down.” That influenced Doug for many years. But later in his ministry life he realized that this was so untrue. He learned that, “The Devil never slows down? Oh well. The Devil isn’t my role model.” There are times that I must slow down and reflect on God. He is my only role model.

Random sidewalk art

When Lindsey was 3 years old I showed her how to make random sidewalk art on our driveway with chalk. Earlier this week I came home to Lindsey, her little brother Daniel, and a neighbor kid doing some random art work on our sidewalk. They were a mess but it looked way to fun not to join them. After about an hour, a lot of chalk, and very messy pants we finish this little piece of random art work. Fun stuff. If you look carefully at the picture you can see the outside light that I took a picture of 3 weeks ago during the ice storm. Also, if you click on the picture you can see a short slide show.

Book Report – Flags of our Fathers

Another book report from another great book. Since I’m a 1st gulf war veteran (operation desert shield and desert storm) and have a family line of a military father (Walter Preston Eades) & grandfather (George Herbert Eades) I really enjoy reading and learning about different wars. I read a book last year called, Reporting World War II that was a great read about reporters reports of the war and I was glad to read another world war II book. Going through James Bradley’s book, Flags of our Fathers was an joyous emotional experiences. I cried, laughed, and read way to late into the night (I finished the book at 3am last night). My wife and I are now really looking forward to watching the movie based on this book.

It was a fun read for me but I did pull from it my two key thoughts. I’m not totally sure if these will be useful for me in a practical way or just a “reflecting on the past” way (probably both). Here are my thoughts:

1) I’m still so impressed with the physical and mental ability that the world war II men and women had and did. This book is replete with incredible physical acts that would compete with any Olympic athlete. The decisions that these soldiers had to make quickly were life changing and life saving/ending. Yet they did it. For a huge hunk of rock (Iwo Jima) in the middle of the pacific ocean they did these things with honor and a desire to protect the men they were with.

2) My second thought was the way these men and most men of World War II didn’t really talk about what happened in the war. It wasn’t until after Jack Bradley’s (James Bradley’s dad) death did his family find out about what he did. Though he was a national hero (one of the six flagraisers of Iwo Jima) he lead a simple life. My grandfather and grandmother and my wife’s grandfather (WWII vets) also lived simple lives. I think the last few paragraphs of the book really sums up this thought,
“After spending five years researching their lives, the boys certainly seem like heroes to me. I admit it.
But I must defer to my father. He was there. He knew the guys, knew what they did. His hands were on that pole….
So I’ll take my dad’s word for it: Mike, Harlon, Franklin, Ira, Rene, and Doc, the men of Easy Company—they just did what anybody would have done, and they were not heroes.
Not heroes.
They were boys of common virtue.
Called to duty.
Brothers and sons. Friends and neighbors.
And fathers.

It’s as simple as that.”

A typical jr high interaction

I found this little interaction between some of my jr highers fascinating. The main thing that stood out to me was the last comment about friends changing a 6th grade boys taste buds. See what you think:

8th grade boy - Our school’s food is actually pretty good! though the tator tot casserole is pretty gross

6th grade girl - tater tot casserole!? ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew! call 911. tator tot casserole!

8th grade girl - Ewwwww… that stuff is Nasty!!!!!!!! (no offense to anyone who likes it though!!!!!???)

6th grade boy - I thought that too until I found my friends loving it.

Lim Eades sign at Sonic

Sonic has finally realized what a big fan I am. They have made a drink and named it after my sur-name. They are putting up signs on their stores (like this one here in Cedar Rapids, IA) with the drink name they just forgot to capitalize the "E."

bonfire w/the children's minsitry

Pastor Mick (our children's pastor) and myself planned a children's & IMPACT ministry family bonfire party at our new property. We had about 250 people out enjoying conversations, looking at the new place, sledding, cooking marshmallows, playing in the snow, and much more together. My favorite part of the whole thing was doing this event with my good friend Mick. We have helped each other with different parts of our ministry but not putting something together, doing it, and being together. It was a great time. If you would like to see a slide show of the event please click on the picture.

6th grade girls party - mar 07

Our 6th grade girls are at it again. This team of ladies working with our 6th grade girls are awesome. They are setting the pace as we have moved into a new lay out for our IMPACT ministry. We have divided our group into 3 teams (6th, 7th, & 8th) and the 6th grade team is rocking. I'm working with the 6th grade guys team and we are setting up a fun event just for 6th grade guys soon. This time it was a pink party for the 6th grade girls and they did the valentine cookie activity and had a great time together. Please click on the picture if you would like to see a slide show of the event.

My next two books

I've been reading a lot of books about ministry, spiritual growth, jr hi kids, etc and I thought I would try a little fun read. So I'm reading through James Bradley's book, "Flags of our Fathers" Very interesting read.

My next book is a little unknown. I have a couple books I would like to read through and Pastor Kim Pagel also has one he would like for me to read. I guess I will have to wait until I finish Bradley's book to know what is next.

I'm a face booker

I've been on facebook for some time but recently our sr hi youth guy (Mark Forstrom) and our young adult pastor (Erin Bird) just got on and they are letting people that read their blogs about it and I thought I should let my (2 or 3) readers know also. Meet me on face book and give me a poke.

The lost tomb of Jesus - whatever

A good friend of mine who has a very analytical mind wrote a great artical to the "new documentary" that has come out about the lost tomb of Jesus. Good read.