Redeeming Culture

Kid's Klub for our church was tonight. I got to teach the lesson. Being that it is October 30th and tomorrow is Halloween, I knew that Halloween would be on their mind. I heard something about a jack-o-lantern devotional before. So I looked it up. It is great. The pumpkins (us) are chosen (by God) who takes us and cleans us out (the goo inside the pumpkin). Of course we all are special and unique (carving the face), and then the light of God can shine through us (hence the candle inside the pumpkin.) Whoa, I will not think of a jack-o-lantern the same again, which is good.
So now I am wondering, what else can we redeem from our culture ? Hmm. This is getting me excited!

My Son the Lion Chaser

Ok, so maybe I am taking this lion chasing stuff too far. Maybe my family has to suffer through my relating everything and everyone to Chase the Lion somehow, someway. Maybe I am enjoying this father stuff too much.
Evey night when I have been tucking the worlds greatest son in bed, I tell him to become a lion chaser. So tonight for some reason Isaiah woke up (very rare) a half hour after we put him to bed. So we went up tucked him back in and stuff. As I was walking out the door, I kid you not, you can ask Heather for verification, Isaiah said "I am going to chase the lion!" Whoa, so cool.

I am loved

Today at the beginning of our gathering, we were having announcements like usual. The one elder got up and presented Heather and me with a envelope. It was for pastor's appreciation month. I opened it up, and man there were some nice things in there, like gift certificates. It really made me feel loved.

"I Want God"

We were putting Isaiah to bed tonight, and he talks us into reading a couple of books before we go to bed. I wanted to read my favorite "Hop on Pop" by Dr. Suess. Now being the good PK that my son is of course he has a little bible story book. So when I grabbed "Hop on Pop" he said "I want God."
Wow, a two year old is saying things that I try to get everyone in our church to say. Impressive huh? Do you want God?

Chase the Lion Update

You know I am really pleased at the way our Chase the Lion series is impacting our church. I have heard about a lot of lion chasing going on. I think it is really encouraging all of us to go for it, to stop playing it safe. As a pastor, man that gets me excited. As a fellow follower of Christ, man that gets me excited.
It is honestly and answer to many prayers. It makes me really excited. Some have thought that doing this now, knowing very well that there will be another addition to the Borchert family before the series is over was a crazy idea. The thing is the timing might not be right for me, but for the church, it was definitely the right time.
Now what I have to work on is making sure that none of us ever stop chasing lions or become complacent.

What I do when I am having a hard time thinking

Just for your comic relief. My all time favorite call in the NFL. Hope you enjoy :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Zkom-6wMnw

An Update on Saying "No"

A couple of months ago I told you how I used telemarketers to practice saying "no." Before I did this, I would just hang up on them, which got rid of them but basically was a waste of time. Now in my effort to maximize efficiency (doesn't that sound impressive) I use them for a learning experience in saying "no."
So a couple of minutes ago, a lady from the Symphony called me and asked if I would be purchasing any symphony tickets this year (last year we got a great deal on a 7 show package, and had a wonderful time I might add). This year, we are not going to do it, mostly because of the 2nd child on his/her way (still don't know which one). So when she asked me if I was going to come this year I flat out said "no" with no uncertainty in my voice. When she regained her composure (guess she did not expect that honest of an answer) she asked a logical follow up question "why not." So I explained we are having another kid and just not in the situation to do it this year. While she would have loved to sell me those tickets, I could tell that she accepted my refusal and explanation and then went on to the next call.
For what it is worth, the Pittsburgh Symphony is a great deal and great fun, and I know they still have seats available. There is no such thing as a bad seat at Heinz Hall. Why not take in a show?

$5000 or Impacting 100's?

So I am getting ready for Sunday, and we will be talking about taking risks. And like so many things in my life it took me back to Edinboro. When I was 16, I filled out my worker application and checked the worker and the counselor box. Now let me be honest, I just checked the counselor box to make it look good. I never thought I would get it. Well somehow I got it. A couple of years later as a joke I filled out the assistant director job. Sure enough I did become the assistant director. Got to admit I had some incredible times there. Learned some incredible lessons. And along the way impacted 100's of people.
I did some calculations and the best that I can figure it, all the weeks that I was at Edinboro it probably cost me about $5000. Needless to say I could use that $5000 now. but however I would not be the same person that I am today.
So why not go for it? Take the risk. Go for it. By the way, even without the $5000, God still has enabled me to pay all my bills. He is good like that.

p.s. Are you looking for a place to make peanuts but gain experiences? Check out edinborocamp.org Tell them I sent you :)

My Monday Project

So lately it seems like I have been telling you all about what I did on Monday (my normal day off). Well today, I tackled our TV problems. For some reason our TV upstairs was really blurry and fuzzy. So it was time (or more likely past time -- it has been like that for about a month) to fix it. Well I started off thinking it was going to be the TV. So to test the TV I brought up the VCR. The VCR looked great. So then I am thinking it is the Direct TV box. So I tried the receiver box on the TV downstairs and it was fuzzy. Hmm...scratch head. So I hook the receiver up to the RCA outs and it works great. Then I figured I would just hook the other one up stairs. Well it wasn't looking right. So I hooked it up with the VCR and it worked perfect. For those of you who are completely lost, after trying 9872345 combinations, I have both of our TVs working good!
This whole experience got me thinking. I am not sure why both are working now. I am not sure why I had to hook the VCR up to get it to work. But do I care? NO! Sometimes we need to approach our spiritual lives the same way. If one thing doesn't work, try something else. If that doesn't work try something else. Try the 9872345 combinations. Whatever works at accomplishing the goal of growing closer to God, give it a shot. I am convinced that no one "method" works for you throughout your life, so change it up. Try something. Give it a shot.
Now understand that I am not saying that "all roads lead to God" or anything like that. I am talking about different methods as far as reading the Bible, or studying the Bible, pondering and meditating on the things of God.
If both your TVs are working, you're good. If you are growing closer to God, good! If it comes to the point where your TVs stop working, try something else. If it comes to the point where you are not growing closer to God, change it up.

What I know about being a Father

(honestly this post should not have anything in it, because I think that is the true extent of my knowledge)
I was reading Mark Batterson's blog this morning, and this one paragraph made complete sense and caused me to laugh (any time you combine those two, you have done a great job). It was in reference to three goals that Mark made with his son for the year. If they do all the three goals then there will be a special pilgrimage. But in my mind it basically boils down to this:

Honestly, I don't really know what I'm doing! I just figure that if we sweat together,
talk together, and pray together we'll probably grow close together! Sure, I have a plan.
But I'm not sure what this will look like six weeks or six months from now. One thing is
sure: I'm not going to let our culture raise my son! I'm determined to disciple him myself!

For me that sums up my view of what it is to be a father. Mark really doesn't have a clue what he is doing, nor does any father or mother. But it is the determination to spend time with his son, and invest himself.
That is what I want to make sure that I do with our kid(s) (by the way 3 weeks to the due date for those of you keeping score at home). No I don't know how to do this or that, and there isn't a 5 step plan for perfect child raising. But I am going to give it my all and chase the lion.

Jerry, Oprah and the meaning of life

I kinda feel ashamed to mentioned this, but yesterday I was watching Oprah. Granted, I am not a big Oprah fan, but she had Jerry Seinfeld on the show. I like Jerry. Now of course Jerry is busy pushing his new "Bee" movie. (by the way I am totally going to see that). But as they were talking, they mentioned Jerry's wife. He talked about how much he loves her and stuff like that. But something interesting came out. Jerry said, "You know, people are always complaining about work." He went on to say that marriage does take work, but who cares? I love that perspective. We turn to many things in to that dreaded four letter word "work." We make going the bathroom "work." Taking a walk, work. We call all these things work, and we make work bad. But can work can be good? It is my joy and privilege to have a person as wonderful as Heather in my life. I enjoy the time that we have together. My favorite thing to do is to go home and see her. Now in order to keep that enjoyment going, I guess I have to "work" at it. Who cares? "Raising a son is a lot of work." Again, who cares? I get the joy of investing my time and energy into someone I love. Maybe it is just perspective. Maybe I am just crazy.

What is Your Goal?

I have been thinking about something lately. Most of the time when I set a goal, I make it. Now that is not to say that there aren't ever any setbacks. Setbacks are just a part of reaching a goal. I have been looking at marathon training schedules lately, and I found out that, in a lot of them, every three weeks you have a set back, meaning you don't quite run as long. But just because you have that setback does not mean your goal has changed or anything like that.
So if your goal is to get closer to Jesus, setbacks will happen. That won't stop you from reaching your goal. Who cares about a couple of setbacks? Do learn the lessons of the setbacks, but then get back at it. Go get it. Go get Jesus! Carpe Christ!

"I press on toward the goal"

What doesn't belong in this picture?

So yesterday I was at a Word FM pastor's luncheon at Heinz Field. I believe they said something like 400 pastors were there. Yikes! Now of course with that many pastors in one place you know that the event would go long. You know it would never end on time. And sure enough it didn't.
The food was really good. The only problem is that they ran out of food so my table ended up getting their dessert first and waiting for the main course (please don't tell my mom)
Jim Cymballa was the keynote speaker. Man, that guy! You have to love his authentic heart for prayer and for God. I loved his one line "I received the book of the year award for Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire, who cares? Is God going to care that I wrote the book of the year? After all He is the one who wrote the Bible" I found that funny and amazingly humble at the same time. That guy is incredible
So what didn't belong? I felt it was me. Maybe because I was one of the younger ones there (got to admit that still feels good). More than likely it is because I am all to aware of my short comings. And I look around, and I think, man look at all these Godly servants of Christ. Of course they probably were thinking the same thing. I guess the key is to remain close to Christ, and remain humble. Like Jim Cymballa.

I have a nice demeanor

Today was just too hot for anything. I was driving around Cranberry and was stopped at a traffic light. Now we all know that AC works a whole lot better when you are moving. Well I had been sitting through 2 lights already and I got close to being able to make the turn and the light is orange. I don't want to wait one more cycle. The big truck next to me was turning, so I figured why not go for it. I made it through. Then I looked in my rear view mirror. You guessed it - a bunch of lights. So I pulled over. The officer asked me for my license, registration, and insurance card. Well I had a registration card on the passenger seat, thought it was the correct one, but it turned out it was for a different car but I didn't realize that nor did the officer. So he told me why he pulled me over and then said something that I was not expecting he told me that "since I had a nice demeanor he would not give me a ticket." He handed me my license, registration (yes the wrong one), and my insurance card. "thank you officer."
A nice demeaner...hmm...didn't know I had one, good to know, good to use. :)

B-94 is back!!!!!

Wow, 3 years ago, Pittsburgh lost the B. But after a three year absence B-94 is back. It was weird. On Monday when I was going to get a new mower blade for my marathon mowing adventure, I tuned into 93.7 and they were playing Christmas music. I thought this is weird. But they kept teasing me by asking "what has been missing from pitts-urgh?" Now I am a little slow of course. But I figured it out at 4:52 p.m. this afternoon. They made the "official" announcement at 5:00. A very cool announcement might I add. And so it is back. B-94 came back on my birthday. What an unexpected birthday gift.

Happy Birthday to Me

On this day 31 years ago Vern and Lorrie Borchert welcomed a big bundle of joy in their life. Yes that would be me. Do I have big plans today? Don't think so. Still have a lot of work that I have to get done for Sunday and such.
I had my first birthday disappointment at 7:15 this morning. I went to Starbucks, got my coffee, then headed to Get-n-Go to get myself two doughnuts. Guess what? No doughnuts. What's up with that. I guess that means I don't need them. Nah that couldn't be it, so I drove down to Giant Eagle and, rest assured, I got my doughnuts. So all is right in the world.

Just once I would like a normal mowing

Well, I can say I did not get my mower stuck this time and didn't have to lift it again causing my back to be in a lot of pain for a week. So that is the good news.
But here is how yesterday all went down. I started mowing at about 10:00. It was incredible. The tractor started right up. I had enough gas. Life was good. I was mowing like crazy. Getting places that I have never gotten before. There are no longer any bees nests. That was nice. Just having a good time. And then (never good when there is a "and then") the blade breaks! Well that shouldn't be too bad right? So I headed out to Lowe's and found the blade set and the single blade. I pondered to myself, and finally decided to go with the two blades. I got home and ate lunch, went back outside and started to install the blade. Well the one side came off pretty easily, and I looked at the non-broken blade and could see a big crack in it. So at this point I am feeling pretty good about myself. Then comes the other side. Now that did not go easy. I tried this, and that, and nothing was working. All I was doing was skinning my knuckles and rounding the bolt. So I went to my dad's house, and got a 7/8" socket. Got back, put it on, bingo. No problem. So next I put the two new blades on, again, no problem. I'm thinking at this point "I'm the man." I started it up. It started real easy. Turn the blades on. YIKES! There was this awful metal hitting metal sound. I turned everything off and looked at it. It turns out that I had bent the deck which is more than likely what caused the blade to break. So I begsn to tug and pull on it and finally there was no rubbing. I started to mow again, making it about 15' and that awful sound comes back. So I tugged and pulled a little more. I think I just made it worse. I took it back down by the basement (where all my tools are), messed with it some more and it is not doing anything. I can not get it. Finally I get serious. I get the saber saw out. Next thing you know I am cutting the mower deck with my saber saw so that I can bend it out so it doesn't rub so I can finish mowing the grass (which I only have about 10 minutes worth of mowing left). Well fortunately that worked, so off to mowing I went. Now somewhere along the line, I attempted to "re-level" the deck. Somehow my 4 that I used to mow with is now a 6, but it is not like I noticed right away. I'm out there mowing at level 4 and dust is going everywhere. it was crazy. Anyhow, I did finish, and I am still alive. But it did take me 'til 5:00 p.m. Only 7 hours. (ugh)
No, there is not a deep, profound spiritual application to all of this. I share just to let you know. But for the fun of it, your mission, should you choose to accepted it, is to find the spiritual application to this story. So let me know.